Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC Grows Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 6.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,882 shares of the network technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 178 shares during the period. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $850,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of PANW. GSG Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. GSG Advisors LLC now owns 5,160 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,478,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. Spirit of America Management Corp NY boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 50.0% during the fourth quarter. Spirit of America Management Corp NY now owns 300 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $88,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the period. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group increased its position in Palo Alto Networks by 46.4% during the fourth quarter. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group now owns 4,178 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,232,000 after acquiring an additional 1,325 shares during the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 148.9% in the third quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 189,801 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $44,497,000 after acquiring an additional 113,534 shares during the period. Finally, Treasurer of the State of North Carolina lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 137,104 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $32,143,000 after acquiring an additional 735 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Palo Alto Networks news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 1,050 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.00, for a total value of $294,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 27,247 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,629,160. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 1,050 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 27,247 shares in the company, valued at $7,629,160. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $284.33, for a total transaction of $17,059,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 198,105 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $56,327,194.65. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 158,917 shares of company stock valued at $44,335,843. Company insiders own 3.30% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on PANW. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $378.00 to $327.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $274.00 to $310.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Evercore ISI increased their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $315.00 to $405.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. KeyCorp lowered their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $380.00 to $355.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $330.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, March 13th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $314.82.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PANW traded down $3.62 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $301.90. The stock had a trading volume of 321,223 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,202,609. The firm has a market cap of $97.54 billion, a PE ratio of 47.74, a PEG ratio of 4.03 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a 50 day moving average of $285.75 and a two-hundred day moving average of $294.47. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a twelve month low of $186.75 and a twelve month high of $380.84.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.58 by $0.22. The company had revenue of $1.98 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.97 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 30.24% and a return on equity of 36.58%. Equities research analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.