Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) Shares Bought by Janney Capital Management LLC

Janney Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 23.7% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 42,288 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,115 shares during the quarter. Janney Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $7,216,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Transce3nd LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 64.0% during the 4th quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL now owns 141 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 102.6% during the 4th quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 156 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 79 shares in the last quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 100.0% during the 4th quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 156 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 100.0% during the 4th quarter. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. now owns 150 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently issued reports on PANW. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $230.00 to $205.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Truist Financial lowered their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $213.00 to $205.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 31st. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “sell” rating and issued a $130.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, TD Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $230.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $208.00.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $199.78 on Thursday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $142.01 and a fifty-two week high of $208.39. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $186.18 and a 200 day moving average price of $185.26. The company has a market capitalization of $133.21 billion, a PE ratio of 114.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 0.97.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its 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. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 13.95% and a return on equity of 19.48%. The firm had revenue of $2.29 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.28 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.66 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $195.14, for a total value 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 $51,564,964.44. The trade was a 31.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 227,414 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.73, for a total transaction of $39,281,220.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 317,571 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $54,854,038.83. This trade represents a 41.73% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 789,736 shares of company stock worth $139,837,528. Insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Company 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.