Whitaker Myers Wealth Managers LTD. Raises Stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Whitaker Myers Wealth Managers LTD. grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 17.3% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 2,755 shares of the network technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 406 shares during the quarter. Whitaker Myers Wealth Managers LTD.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $470,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in PANW. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 64.0% during the 4th quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL now owns 141 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 55 shares during the period. JDM Financial Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 22.4% in the fourth quarter. JDM Financial Group LLC now owns 322 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $59,000 after buying an additional 59 shares during the period. Snider Financial Group lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 0.4% during the first quarter. Snider Financial Group now owns 17,729 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $3,025,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 8.4% during the 4th quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 906 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $165,000 after buying an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quarry LP lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 16.9% in the fourth quarter. Quarry LP now owns 511 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $93,000 after acquiring an additional 74 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.41, for a total value of $16,541,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 3,543,516 shares in the company, valued at approximately $586,132,981.56. The trade was a 2.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $195.14, for a total value of $23,567,838.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 264,246 shares in the company, valued at approximately $51,564,964.44. This trade represents a 31.37% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 789,736 shares of company stock worth $139,837,528 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently issued reports on PANW. TD Securities reissued a “buy” rating and set a $230.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $225.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Stephens downgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Truist Financial cut their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $213.00 to $205.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 31st. Finally, Northland Securities decreased their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $210.00 to $177.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $208.00.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PANW opened at $199.60 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $133.09 billion, a PE ratio of 112.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 0.97. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $180.48 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $185.02. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1 year low of $142.01 and a 1 year high of $208.39.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.03. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 21.93% and a net margin of 14.64%. The firm had revenue of $2.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.28 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.66 EPS. Palo Alto Networks’s quarterly revenue was up 15.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current fiscal 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.