Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. Buys 13,900 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. increased its position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 7.8% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 192,396 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 13,900 shares during the period. Palo Alto Networks makes up approximately 1.2% of Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co.’s holdings, making the stock its 27th biggest position. Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $39,176,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of PANW. Darwin Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter worth approximately $25,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 6,400.0% during the second quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 130 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 128 shares in the last quarter. Briaud Financial Planning Inc purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $28,000. Howard Hughes Medical Institute purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $29,000. Finally, MTM Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $31,000. 79.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have commented on PANW. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 target price (up previously from $235.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday, November 11th. Northland Securities increased their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $177.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $235.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, December 17th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $245.00 target price (up previously from $228.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Thursday, December 18th. Finally, Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $265.00 target price (up previously from $230.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Monday, January 5th. Thirty-one investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $229.09.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 800 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Friday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.81, for a total transaction of $147,848.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 46,005 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,502,184.05. The trade was a 1.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $217.94, for a total value of $26,321,485.56. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 356,409 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $77,675,777.46. The trade was a 25.31% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 382,016 shares of company stock valued at $76,386,460 in the last 90 days. 1.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 1.9%

PANW opened at $184.06 on Wednesday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $190.09 and its 200 day moving average is $195.44. The company has a market cap of $128.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 116.49, a PEG ratio of 4.47 and a beta of 0.76. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12-month low of $144.15 and a 12-month high of $223.61.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.89 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $2.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.46 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 11.69% and a return on equity of 17.05%. The firm’s revenue was up 15.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.56 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Palo Alto Networks

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ: PANW) is a cybersecurity company founded in 2005 and headquartered in Santa Clara, California. The firm develops a broad suite of security products and services designed to prevent successful cyberattacks and protect enterprise networks, clouds, and endpoints. Built around a platform strategy, its offerings target threat prevention, detection, response and governance across hybrid and multi-cloud environments.

The company’s product portfolio includes next‑generation firewalls as a core on‑premises capability, alongside cloud‑delivered security services and software for securing public and private clouds.