Argent Trust Co Acquires 15,287 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Argent Trust Co increased its position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 102.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 30,207 shares of the network technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 15,287 shares during the period. Argent Trust Co’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $5,496,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of PANW. 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 Palo Alto Networks during the third quarter worth $1,109,000. M&T Bank Corp lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 8.6% during the third quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 64,737 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $22,127,000 after buying an additional 5,133 shares during the period. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 45.7% during the third quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 7,593 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $2,691,000 after buying an additional 2,381 shares during the period. Finally, Empire Financial Management Company LLC grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Empire Financial Management Company LLC now owns 4,394 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,502,000 after purchasing an additional 97 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on PANW. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $235.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Monday, March 31st. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. BTIG Research lowered shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $425.00 to $213.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $225.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twenty-eight have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $204.52.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

PANW traded down $4.12 during trading on Thursday, hitting $168.90. The stock had a trading volume of 428,953 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,888,009. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a twelve month low of $135.18 and a twelve month high of $208.39. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $182.88 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $184.83. The company has a market capitalization of $111.83 billion, a PE ratio of 95.16, a PEG ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.07.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $2.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.24 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 21.93% and a net margin of 14.64%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 490,723 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 99,707 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $182.45, for a total value of $18,191,542.15. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 358,197 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $65,353,042.65. The trade was a 21.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 939,318 shares of company stock worth $165,384,602. 2.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.