Motco Buys 34,671 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Motco raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 95.4% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 71,003 shares of the network technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 34,671 shares during the quarter. Palo Alto Networks accounts for 1.3% of Motco’s holdings, making the stock its 16th largest position. Motco’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $12,920,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in PANW. Tradewinds LLC. lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.2% during the third quarter. Tradewinds LLC. now owns 2,315 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $791,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares during the period. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 9.4% in the 3rd quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 348 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $119,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Geneva Partners LLC grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Geneva Partners LLC now owns 10,945 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $3,741,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Klingman & Associates LLC grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 4.2% during the 3rd quarter. Klingman & Associates LLC now owns 750 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $256,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Carr Financial Group Corp increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 4.4% during the 3rd quarter. Carr Financial Group Corp now owns 715 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $244,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $179.70, for a total transaction of $21,564,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 365,856 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $65,744,323.20. This trade represents a 24.70 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 235,492 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, January 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.32, for a total value of $43,170,393.44. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,086,404 shares in the company, valued at $199,159,581.28. The trade was a 17.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 1,122,864 shares of company stock valued at $204,315,811. Company insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on PANW. HSBC lowered Palo Alto Networks from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $152.00 to $145.50 in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $205.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Barclays lowered their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $425.00 to $213.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Bank of America raised their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $212.50 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, twenty-eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $205.06.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 1.1 %

NASDAQ:PANW opened at $187.50 on Friday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12-month low of $132.50 and a 12-month high of $208.39. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $186.57 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $184.14. The firm has a market capitalization of $124.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 105.63, a P/E/G ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.14.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.06. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 21.93% and a net margin of 14.64%. The business had revenue of $2.26 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.24 billion. Equities research analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.

About Palo Alto Networks

Palo Alto Networks, Inc provides cybersecurity solutions worldwide. The company offers firewall appliances and software; and Panorama, a security management solution for the global control of network security platform as a virtual or a physical appliance. It also provides subscription services covering the areas of threat prevention, malware and persistent threat, URL filtering, laptop and mobile device protection, DNS security, Internet of Things security, SaaS security API, and SaaS security inline, as well as threat intelligence, and data loss prevention.