Providence First Trust Co Acquires 1,603 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Providence First Trust Co raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 88.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,413 shares of the network technology company’s stock after buying an additional 1,603 shares during the quarter. Providence First Trust Co’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $621,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the 3rd quarter valued at $29,000. True Wealth Design LLC raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2,933.3% in the 3rd quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 91 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 88 shares during the period. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 3rd quarter valued at about $32,000. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the third quarter valued at about $33,000. Finally, Darwin Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the third quarter worth about $39,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on PANW shares. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $208.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $193.50 to $224.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. Rosenblatt Securities increased their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $212.50 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. UBS Group boosted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Palo Alto Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 24th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, twenty-eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $205.06.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $190.43 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $126.08 billion, a PE ratio of 107.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.14. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $186.64 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $184.32. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a one year low of $132.50 and a one year high of $208.39.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 company had revenue of $2.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.24 billion. Sell-side analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.22, for a total transaction of $126,854.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 47,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,694,210.72. The trade was a 1.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 490,723 shares of the firm’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 transaction of $89,532,411.35. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,086,404 shares in the company, valued at approximately $198,214,409.80. The trade was a 31.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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.

Palo Alto Networks Profile

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.