Riverview Trust Co Acquires 84 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Riverview Trust Co lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 105.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 164 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 84 shares during the period. Riverview Trust Co’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $30,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in PANW. Jennison Associates LLC increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 83.0% during the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 5,759,689 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,048,033,000 after acquiring an additional 2,612,474 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 199.1% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,822,336 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $333,925,000 after acquiring an additional 1,213,073 shares during the period. Swedbank AB increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 107.8% during the fourth quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 1,634,701 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $297,450,000 after acquiring an additional 848,127 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 104.1% during the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 1,562,722 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $284,353,000 after purchasing an additional 796,964 shares during the period. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 100.6% during the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 1,374,653 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $250,132,000 after purchasing an additional 689,458 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PANW has been the topic of several analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC boosted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $192.50 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $165.00 to $192.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Westpark Capital reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $196.40 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $223.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, OTR Global reiterated a “negative” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $205.06.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PANW opened at $190.43 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $186.64 and a 200 day moving average price of $184.44. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52 week low of $132.50 and a 52 week high of $208.39. The stock has a market capitalization 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.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $2.26 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.24 billion. As a group, research analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 490,723 shares of the firm’s 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 owns 1,086,404 shares in the company, valued at approximately $198,214,409.80. This trade represents a 31.11 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 99,707 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $182.45, for a total transaction of $18,191,542.15. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 358,197 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $65,353,042.65. This trade represents a 21.77 % 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 worth $204,315,811. 2.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.