Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) Shares Bought by Crescent Grove Advisors LLC

Crescent Grove Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 3.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,705 shares of the network technology company’s stock after buying an additional 61 shares during the period. Crescent Grove Advisors LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $503,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Worth Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the 1st quarter valued at about $26,000. First Pacific Financial grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 421.7% during the 3rd quarter. First Pacific Financial now owns 120 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 97 shares during the last quarter. Pin Oak Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter valued at about $28,000. Fortis Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Finally, Webster Bank N. A. grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 607.1% during the 4th quarter. Webster Bank N. A. now owns 99 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 85 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 45,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Monday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $343.03, for a total value of $15,436,350.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 198,105 shares in the company, valued at $67,955,958.15. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 45,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Monday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $343.03, for a total value of $15,436,350.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 198,105 shares in the company, valued at $67,955,958.15. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 1,050 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 7th. The shares were 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 owns 27,247 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,629,160. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 167,917 shares of company stock worth $49,395,553. Company insiders own 3.30% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of PANW traded down $0.04 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $272.11. 893,595 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,615,276. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52-week low of $176.30 and a 52-week high of $380.84. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $302.23 and a 200 day simple moving average of $289.99. The firm has a market cap of $87.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.52, a P/E/G ratio of 3.80 and a beta of 1.19.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.58 by $0.22. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 36.58% and a net margin of 30.24%. The business had revenue of $1.98 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.97 billion. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have weighed in on PANW. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on Palo Alto Networks to $420.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. Truist Financial upped their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $330.00 to $385.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. Capital One Financial downgraded Palo Alto Networks from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $302.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Scotiabank lowered their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $363.00 to $337.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Finally, Mizuho lowered their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $405.00 to $350.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average 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.