Everence Capital Management Inc. Takes $3.16 Million Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Everence Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 10,730 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,164,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Covestor Ltd boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 61.8% during the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 55 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 21 shares in the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 2,961 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,843,000 after purchasing an additional 23 shares in the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 6.5% in the 1st quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 425 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $265,000 after purchasing an additional 26 shares during the last quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 6.4% during the 1st quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC now owns 452 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $281,000 after buying an additional 27 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MV Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 37.2% during the 4th quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. now owns 107 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 29 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have issued reports on PANW. Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $330.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, March 13th. Raymond James lowered shares of Palo Alto Networks from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, December 18th. Piper Sandler downgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $350.00 to $300.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. KeyCorp decreased their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $390.00 to $380.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Finally, Redburn Atlantic increased their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $275.00 to $350.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $314.82.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 1,050 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 7th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at $7,629,160. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 1,050 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 45,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 198,105 shares in the company, valued at $67,955,958.15. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 167,917 shares of company stock valued at $49,395,553 over the last ninety days. 3.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 1.1 %

NASDAQ PANW traded up $2.87 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $275.02. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 3,507,352 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,638,485. The firm has a market capitalization of $88.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.46, a PEG ratio of 3.80 and a beta of 1.19. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $302.23 and its 200 day simple moving average is $289.99. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a twelve month low of $176.30 and a twelve month high of $380.84.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 firm had revenue of $1.98 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.97 billion. As a group, research analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.76 EPS for the current 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.