Montag A & Associates Inc. Acquires 1,887 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Montag A & Associates Inc. raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 99.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 3,775 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,887 shares during the quarter. Montag A & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $687,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Congress Asset Management Co. increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 101.6% in the fourth quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. now owns 559,545 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $101,815,000 after purchasing an additional 281,971 shares in the last quarter. Newman Dignan & Sheerar Inc. grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 95.4% during the 4th quarter. Newman Dignan & Sheerar Inc. now owns 14,110 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $2,567,000 after buying an additional 6,890 shares during the period. Vivid Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 101.5% in the 4th quarter. Vivid Wealth Management LLC now owns 13,832 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $2,517,000 after acquiring an additional 6,968 shares in the last quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 90.8% during the 4th quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC now owns 624 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $114,000 after acquiring an additional 297 shares during the period. Finally, Roxbury Financial LLC bought a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the fourth quarter worth $71,000. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have weighed in on PANW. Evercore ISI decreased their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $455.00 to $230.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, December 31st. UBS Group boosted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $223.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. HSBC downgraded Palo Alto Networks from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $152.00 to $145.50 in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $165.00 to $192.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $202.70.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 4.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ PANW opened at $208.28 on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $186.84 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $182.29. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1-year low of $130.04 and a 1-year high of $208.35. The firm has a market cap of $136.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.36 and a beta of 1.14.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.06. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 23.36% and a net margin of 32.99%. The company had revenue of $2.26 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.24 billion. Analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.74 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 336,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $193.70, for a total transaction of $65,081,520.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 3,643,516 shares in the company, valued at $705,730,831.62. This represents a 8.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $179.70, for a total value of $21,564,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 365,856 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $65,744,323.20. The trade was a 24.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 1,458,864 shares of company stock worth $269,397,331 over the last quarter. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.