Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC Increases Holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 1.3% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 101,730 shares of the network technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,326 shares during the quarter. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $17,359,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL boosted its stake 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 worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. JDM Financial Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 22.4% during the 4th quarter. JDM Financial Group LLC now owns 322 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $59,000 after acquiring an additional 59 shares in the last quarter. Snider Financial Group boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Snider Financial Group now owns 17,729 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $3,025,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. boosted 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 worth $165,000 after acquiring an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quarry LP boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 16.9% during the 4th quarter. Quarry LP now owns 511 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $93,000 after acquiring an additional 74 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 0.2%

PANW stock opened at $195.95 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $130.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 110.39, a PEG ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 0.97. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $181.56 and a 200-day simple moving average of $185.03. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52 week low of $142.01 and a 52 week high of $208.39.

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

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $195.14, for a total transaction of $23,567,838.36. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 264,246 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $51,564,964.44. This represents a 31.37% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 227,414 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.73, for a total transaction of $39,281,220.22. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 317,571 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $54,854,038.83. This trade represents a 41.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 789,736 shares of company stock worth $139,837,528 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on PANW. Northland Securities decreased their price target on 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. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $230.00 to $205.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Westpark Capital restated a “hold” rating and set a $196.40 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded Palo Alto Networks from a “moderate sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Finally, Truist Financial cut their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $213.00 to $205.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 31st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $208.00.

Palo Alto Networks 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.