Providence First Trust Co Has $621,000 Stock Holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Providence First Trust Co increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 88.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,413 shares of the network technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,603 shares during the period. Providence First Trust Co’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $621,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 3.0% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,656,968 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $2,609,486,000 after buying an additional 220,900 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC raised its position in Palo Alto Networks by 83.0% during the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 5,759,689 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,048,033,000 after acquiring an additional 2,612,474 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 1.6% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,005,161 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $685,364,000 after acquiring an additional 31,595 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 199.1% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,822,336 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $333,925,000 after acquiring an additional 1,213,073 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 107.8% during the 4th quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 1,634,701 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $297,450,000 after purchasing an additional 848,127 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PANW opened at $190.43 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $126.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 107.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.14. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $132.50 and a fifty-two week high of $208.39. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $186.64 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $184.32.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.75 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $2.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.24 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 14.64% and a return on equity of 21.93%. Research analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. HSBC cut Palo Alto Networks from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $152.00 to $145.50 in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. BTIG Research lowered Palo Alto Networks from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Rosenblatt Securities raised their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $212.50 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, Citigroup upped their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $205.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $205.06.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 490,723 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $182.45, for a total transaction of $89,532,411.35. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,086,404 shares in the company, valued at approximately $198,214,409.80. The trade was a 31.11 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 99,707 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $182.45, for a total transaction of $18,191,542.15. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 358,197 shares in the company, valued at $65,353,042.65. The trade was a 21.77 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 1,122,864 shares of company stock worth $204,315,811. 2.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About Palo Alto Networks

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.