Harbor Advisors LLC Raises Stock Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Harbor Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 25.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,000 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,000 shares during the period. Harbor Advisors LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $1,474,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in PANW. MV Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 37.2% during the fourth quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. now owns 107 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. Quent Capital LLC increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 15.9% during the fourth quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 233 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $69,000 after buying an additional 32 shares during the period. Parisi Gray Wealth Management increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Parisi Gray Wealth Management now owns 1,519 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $448,000 after buying an additional 33 shares during the period. Howard Financial Services LTD. increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. Howard Financial Services LTD. now owns 1,061 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $313,000 after buying an additional 35 shares during the period. Finally, SJS Investment Consulting Inc. increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 20.5% during the fourth quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 206 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $61,000 after buying an additional 35 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of PANW stock traded up $11.81 on Tuesday, reaching $293.49. 4,037,685 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,531,445. The company has a market cap of $94.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.47, a P/E/G ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.19. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $293.65 and a 200 day moving average price of $291.51. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1 year low of $176.30 and a 1 year high of $380.84.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.58 by $0.22. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 30.24% and a return on equity of 36.58%. The company had revenue of $1.98 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.97 billion. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 1,050 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.00, for a total transaction of $294,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 27,247 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,629,160. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 45,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $343.03, for a total value of $15,436,350.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 198,105 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $67,955,958.15. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 1,050 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.00, for a total transaction of $294,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 27,247 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,629,160. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 167,917 shares of company stock valued at $49,395,553. Corporate insiders own 3.30% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on PANW. Redburn Atlantic lifted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $275.00 to $350.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. Piper Sandler lowered shares of Palo Alto Networks from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $350.00 to $300.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $315.00 to $405.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Susquehanna cut their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $400.00 to $325.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 26th. Finally, Capital One Financial lowered shares of Palo Alto Networks from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $302.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $314.82.

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.