Global Retirement Partners LLC Buys 3,579 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Global Retirement Partners LLC increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 95.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 7,340 shares of the network technology company’s stock after buying an additional 3,579 shares during the period. Global Retirement Partners LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $1,336,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Semus Wealth Partners LLC raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 94.1% in the fourth quarter. Semus Wealth Partners LLC now owns 3,882 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $706,000 after buying an additional 1,882 shares in the last quarter. Wilkinson Global Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $204,000. Bigelow Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 106.5% during the fourth quarter. Bigelow Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,658 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $302,000 after purchasing an additional 855 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Jackson Hole Trust bought a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $709,000. Finally, Klingman & Associates LLC increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 133.6% during the fourth quarter. Klingman & Associates LLC now owns 1,752 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $319,000 after purchasing an additional 1,002 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $190.00 target price (down previously from $207.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $192.50 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Evercore ISI decreased their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $455.00 to $230.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, December 31st. HSBC downgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $152.00 to $145.50 in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $165.00 to $192.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, twenty-eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $204.69.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PANW opened at $191.03 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $126.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 107.62, a P/E/G ratio of 5.82 and a beta of 1.14. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $187.20 and its two-hundred day moving average is $182.95. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52-week low of $132.50 and a 52-week high of $208.39.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.75 by $0.06. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 14.64% and a return on equity of 21.93%. The company had revenue of $2.26 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.24 billion. As a group, analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The shares were 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 directly 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 490,723 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $182.45, for a total transaction of $89,532,411.35. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,086,404 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $198,214,409.80. This represents a 31.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 1,458,864 shares of company stock valued at $269,397,331 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Company 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.