Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) Shares Bought by US Bancorp DE

US Bancorp DE grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 100.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,328,754 shares of the network technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 664,855 shares during the quarter. US Bancorp DE’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $241,780,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Swedbank AB boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 19.7% during the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 786,574 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $268,851,000 after purchasing an additional 129,371 shares during the period. Howard Capital Management Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 106,248 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $36,316,000 after acquiring an additional 1,619 shares during the last quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 613.9% in the 3rd quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 257 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $88,000 after acquiring an additional 221 shares during the last quarter. Financial Advocates Investment Management grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 7.8% during the third quarter. Financial Advocates Investment Management now owns 5,364 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,833,000 after buying an additional 389 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Catalyst Financial Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 5.9% during the third quarter. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC now owns 898 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $307,000 after buying an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PANW has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Guggenheim downgraded Palo Alto Networks from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $130.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Monday, January 6th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $223.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. BTIG Research downgraded Palo Alto Networks from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, JMP Securities boosted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, twenty-eight have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $205.06.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 176,242 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $180.04, for a total value of $31,730,609.68. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,086,404 shares in the company, valued at approximately $195,596,176.16. This represents a 13.96 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 99,707 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $182.45, for a total value of $18,191,542.15. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 358,197 shares in the company, valued at approximately $65,353,042.65. This represents a 21.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,122,864 shares of company stock valued at $204,315,811 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 1.6 %

Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $190.43 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $186.64 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $184.32. The stock has a market cap of $126.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 107.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.14. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12 month low of $132.50 and a 12 month high of $208.39.

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