Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. Purchases 1,748 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. grew its position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 1.4% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 130,264 shares of the network technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,748 shares during the quarter. Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $22,228,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL boosted its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 55 shares during the period. JDM Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 22.4% in the 4th quarter. JDM Financial Group LLC now owns 322 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $59,000 after purchasing an additional 59 shares during the period. Snider Financial Group boosted its holdings in 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 valued at $3,025,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares during the period. Rakuten Securities Inc. boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 8.4% during the 4th quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 906 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $165,000 after acquiring an additional 70 shares during the period. Finally, Quarry LP boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 16.9% during the 4th quarter. Quarry LP now owns 511 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $93,000 after acquiring an additional 74 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 100,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.41, for a total value of $16,541,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,543,516 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $586,132,981.56. The trade was a 2.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $151.13, for a total value of $18,252,574.62. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 321,774 shares in the company, valued at $48,629,704.62. This represents a 27.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 789,736 shares of company stock valued at $139,837,528. Company insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of PANW stock opened at $196.27 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $184.15 and its 200-day simple moving average is $185.11. The firm has a market capitalization of $130.87 billion, a PE ratio of 110.58, a P/E/G ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 0.97. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $142.01 and a fifty-two week high of $208.39.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, May 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $2.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.28 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 21.93% and a net margin of 14.64%. Palo Alto Networks’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.66 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PANW has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Roth Capital initiated coverage on Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, May 15th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $210.00 price objective for the company. Guggenheim restated a “sell” rating and set a $130.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Northland Securities dropped their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $210.00 to $177.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Susquehanna lifted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $217.50 to $230.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, TD Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $230.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus 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.