NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC Buys 44,984 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 92.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 93,630 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 44,984 shares during the quarter. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $17,052,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 29.4% during the third quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 32,155 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $6,547,000 after acquiring an additional 7,301 shares in the last quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $75,412,000. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 134.1% in the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 672,129 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $136,859,000 after purchasing an additional 384,985 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 1,364,442 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $277,828,000 after purchasing an additional 8,344 shares during the period. Finally, Silver Oak Securities Incorporated grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 240.1% during the 3rd quarter. Silver Oak Securities Incorporated now owns 11,732 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $2,389,000 after purchasing an additional 8,282 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Arete Research raised shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “sell” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $185.00 price target on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 3rd. New Street Research dropped their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $240.00 to $220.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $185.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Finally, Scotiabank reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have issued a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $210.19.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $188.18, for a total value of $940,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 155,119 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,190,293.42. The trade was a 3.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,768 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $191.03, for a total transaction of $23,070,311.04. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 298,887 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $57,096,383.61. The trade was a 28.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 149,252 shares of company stock worth $27,888,535 in the last 90 days. 1.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PANW opened at $162.95 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $132.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 90.03, a PEG ratio of 5.88 and a beta of 0.78. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a one year low of $139.57 and a one year high of $223.61. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $167.77 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $188.72.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 18th. The network technology company reported $1.03 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.94 by $0.09. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 12.96% and a return on equity of 17.60%. The firm had revenue of $2.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.58 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.81 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 14.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Palo Alto Networks Profile

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ: PANW) is a cybersecurity company founded in 2005 and headquartered in Santa Clara, California. The firm develops a broad suite of security products and services designed to prevent successful cyberattacks and protect enterprise networks, clouds, and endpoints. Built around a platform strategy, its offerings target threat prevention, detection, response and governance across hybrid and multi-cloud environments.

The company’s product portfolio includes next‑generation firewalls as a core on‑premises capability, alongside cloud‑delivered security services and software for securing public and private clouds.