First Interstate Bank Cuts Stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

First Interstate Bank reduced its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 3.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 23,653 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 962 shares during the period. First Interstate Bank’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $6,975,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of PANW. Tyche Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $716,000. Arbor Trust Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $587,000. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 14.0% in the fourth quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 265,930 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $78,417,000 after buying an additional 32,562 shares during the period. Everence Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,164,000. Finally, Wealth Alliance raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Wealth Alliance now owns 5,777 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,704,000 after buying an additional 71 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently commented on PANW shares. Rosenblatt Securities lowered shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price target for the company from $290.00 to $265.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $315.00 to $405.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and set a $380.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $400.00 to $345.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks to $420.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $314.82.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

NASDAQ PANW traded up $2.87 on Tuesday, reaching $275.02. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 3,626,704 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,653,573. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a twelve month low of $176.30 and a twelve month high of $380.84. The stock has a market cap of $88.86 billion, a PE ratio of 42.97, a PEG ratio of 3.80 and a beta of 1.19. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $302.23 and its two-hundred day moving average is $289.99.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.58 by $0.22. The firm had revenue of $1.98 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.97 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 36.58% and a net margin of 30.24%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $268.04, for a total value of $16,082,400.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 174,075 shares in the company, valued at approximately $46,659,063. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $268.04, for a total value of $16,082,400.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 174,075 shares in the company, valued at $46,659,063. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, President William D. Jenkins, Jr. sold 1,867 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.13, for a total value of $523,002.71. Following the completion of the transaction, the president now owns 25,812 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,230,715.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 167,917 shares of company stock worth $49,395,553 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 3.30% of the company’s stock.

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.