Truist Financial Corp Raises Stock Holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Truist Financial Corp grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 1.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 793,903 shares of the network technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 14,004 shares during the quarter. Truist Financial Corp’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $146,237,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in PANW. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 147.7% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,761 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,230,000 after acquiring an additional 4,031 shares in the last quarter. Bison Wealth LLC lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 169.1% in the fourth quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 5,212 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $948,000 after acquiring an additional 3,275 shares in the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 66.3% in the second quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 3,484 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $713,000 after acquiring an additional 1,389 shares in the last quarter. Osterweis Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 11,100.0% in the second quarter. Osterweis Capital Management Inc. now owns 560 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $115,000 after acquiring an additional 555 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Main Street Financial Solutions LLC lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 6.0% in the second quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC now owns 4,398 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $900,000 after acquiring an additional 249 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Berenberg Bank set a $215.00 target price on Palo Alto Networks and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $225.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. BTIG Research reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $200.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $185.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Finally, Scotiabank reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-five have assigned a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $210.07.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 0.0%

NASDAQ PANW opened at $181.10 on Monday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $163.46 and its 200 day moving average price is $181.00. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a twelve month low of $139.57 and a twelve month high of $223.61. The company has a market capitalization of $147.78 billion, a PE ratio of 100.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.53 and a beta of 0.77.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 18th. The network technology company reported $1.03 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.94 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $2.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.58 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 17.60% and a net margin of 12.96%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 14.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.81 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.14 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 1,100 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $161.40, for a total value of $177,540.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 83,136 shares in the company, valued at $13,418,150.40. This trade represents a 1.31% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director John P. Key sold 1,572 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $173.32, for a total value of $272,459.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 20,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,466,400. This trade represents a 7.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 30,356 shares of company stock worth $4,981,575. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

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.