Sentry Investment Management LLC Cuts Stock Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Sentry Investment Management LLC reduced its position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 9.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,605 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 172 shares during the quarter. Sentry Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $473,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of PANW. RB Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 19.9% in the 1st quarter. RB Capital Management LLC now owns 602 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $375,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Morgens Waterfall Vintiadis & Co. Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 1st quarter worth about $6,910,000. United Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 11.7% in the 1st quarter. United Bank now owns 2,822 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,757,000 after purchasing an additional 296 shares in the last quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 13.6% in the 1st quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 1,547 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $963,000 after purchasing an additional 185 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Prudential PLC purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 1st quarter worth about $1,022,000. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 45,000 shares of the firm’s 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 198,105 shares in the company, valued at approximately $67,955,958.15. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 45,000 shares of the firm’s 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 198,105 shares in the company, valued at approximately $67,955,958.15. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, 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 owns 27,247 shares in the company, valued at $7,629,160. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 167,917 shares of company stock worth $49,395,553. Insiders own 3.30% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on PANW shares. Susquehanna dropped their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $400.00 to $325.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 26th. Scotiabank dropped their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $363.00 to $337.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Oppenheimer dropped their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $310.00 to $305.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Barclays dropped their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $400.00 to $345.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Finally, Truist Financial increased their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $330.00 to $385.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 20th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $314.82.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 2.5 %

Shares of PANW opened at $272.15 on Tuesday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $302.23 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $289.99. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12 month low of $176.30 and a 12 month high of $380.84. The company has a market cap of $87.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.52, a P/E/G ratio of 3.80 and a beta of 1.19.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.97 billion. As a group, research analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.76 EPS for the current year.

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.