Heritage Trust Co Takes Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Heritage Trust Co bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 10,692 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,946,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Howard Capital Management Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.5% during the third quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 106,248 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $36,316,000 after buying an additional 1,619 shares during the last quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the third quarter worth $1,109,000. Toronto Dominion Bank raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 9.4% in the 3rd quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 122,147 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $41,750,000 after acquiring an additional 10,462 shares during the last quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2.2% during the third quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 1,977 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $676,000 after buying an additional 42 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Virtue Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 4.3% during the 3rd quarter. Virtue Capital Management LLC now owns 1,690 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $578,000 after acquiring an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Palo Alto Networks news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.22, for a total value of $126,854.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 47,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,694,210.72. This represents a 1.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 the stock in a transaction dated 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 directly 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. Insiders sold 939,318 shares of company stock worth $165,384,602 in the last 90 days. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Truist Financial lowered their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $213.00 to $205.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 31st. Evercore ISI dropped their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $455.00 to $230.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, December 31st. Loop Capital lowered their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $180.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Westpark Capital reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $196.40 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, 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. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twenty-eight have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $204.52.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 2.7 %

NASDAQ PANW opened at $168.27 on Friday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52-week low of $135.18 and a 52-week high of $208.39. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $182.59 and a 200 day moving average price of $184.81. The stock has a market capitalization of $111.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 94.80, a P/E/G ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.07.

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. 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 analysts’ expectations of $2.24 billion. On average, equities research analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.