Security National Bank Boosts Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Security National Bank grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 1.8% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 77,512 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,357 shares during the quarter. Palo Alto Networks makes up about 2.5% of Security National Bank’s holdings, making the stock its 8th largest position. Security National Bank’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $13,227,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 64.0% in the 4th quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL now owns 141 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. JDM Financial Group LLC grew its position 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 valued at $59,000 after buying an additional 59 shares during the last quarter. Adero Partners LLC raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 4.3% during the first quarter. Adero Partners LLC now owns 1,556 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $266,000 after acquiring an additional 64 shares during the period. Snider Financial Group lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 0.4% in the first 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Grimes & Company Inc. boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 5.3% in the first quarter. Grimes & Company Inc. now owns 1,310 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $224,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 1.3%

Shares of NASDAQ PANW opened at $204.30 on Thursday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a twelve month low of $142.01 and a twelve month high of $208.39. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $189.35 and a two-hundred day moving average of $185.33. The company has a market capitalization of $136.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 116.74, a PEG ratio of 5.63 and a beta of 0.97.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, May 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $2.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.28 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 13.95% and a return on equity of 19.48%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.66 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $201.85, for a total transaction of $1,009,250.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 101,135 shares in the company, valued at $20,414,099.75. The trade was a 4.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $201.05, for a total transaction of $160,840.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 42,033 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,450,734.65. This trade represents a 1.87% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 795,536 shares of company stock worth $141,007,618. Insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on PANW. Roth Capital began coverage on Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, May 15th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $210.00 target price for the company. Hsbc Global Res upgraded Palo Alto Networks from a “moderate sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. HSBC raised Palo Alto Networks from a “reduce” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $156.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $221.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, Truist Financial lowered their price target on shares of 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 investment 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average 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.