Greystone Financial Group LLC Boosts Stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Greystone Financial Group LLC increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 5.5% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 9,662 shares of the network technology company’s stock after buying an additional 508 shares during the quarter. Greystone Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $1,649,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of PANW. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 104.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 61,233,907 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $11,142,122,000 after purchasing an additional 31,281,359 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 87.8% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,382,116 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $2,611,013,000 after purchasing an additional 6,725,148 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 83.8% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 8,427,062 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,533,419,000 after acquiring an additional 3,841,359 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 133.7% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,842,647 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,427,048,000 after buying an additional 4,486,654 shares during the period. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 17.6% during the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 7,277,739 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,324,387,000 after buying an additional 1,088,631 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 1.3%

Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $199.60 on Monday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $180.48 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $184.92. The company has a market cap of $133.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 112.45, a P/E/G ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 0.97. 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 issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $2.29 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.28 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 14.64% and a return on equity of 21.93%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.66 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $193.36, for a total value of $19,336,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 3,343,516 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $646,502,253.76. This represents a 2.90% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $195.14, for a total transaction of $23,567,838.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 264,246 shares in the company, valued at approximately $51,564,964.44. The trade was a 31.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 789,736 shares of company stock valued at $139,837,528. Corporate insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PANW has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $225.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Monday, February 10th. KeyCorp reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $220.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. TD Securities reissued a “buy” rating and set a $230.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. JMP Securities lifted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Truist Financial reduced their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $213.00 to $205.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 31st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating and twenty-seven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target 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.