BankPlus Trust Department Buys Shares of 6,580 Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

BankPlus Trust Department purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund purchased 6,580 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,197,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 83.0% in the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 5,759,689 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,048,033,000 after purchasing an additional 2,612,474 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 199.1% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,822,336 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $333,925,000 after buying an additional 1,213,073 shares during the period. Swedbank AB increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 107.8% in the 4th quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 1,634,701 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $297,450,000 after acquiring an additional 848,127 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 104.1% in the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 1,562,722 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $284,353,000 after acquiring an additional 796,964 shares during the period. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 100.6% in the 4th quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 1,374,653 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $250,132,000 after acquiring an additional 689,458 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have issued reports on PANW shares. Needham & Company LLC lifted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $192.50 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Northland Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating and set a $185.00 price objective (up previously from $175.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $212.50 to $217.50 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Evercore ISI reduced their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $455.00 to $230.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, December 31st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $195.00 to $212.50 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $204.69.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PANW opened at $191.03 on Monday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $187.09 and its 200-day simple moving average is $183.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $126.48 billion, a PE ratio of 107.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.14. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $132.50 and a fifty-two week high of $208.39.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.75 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $2.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.24 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 21.93% and a net margin of 14.64%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Palo Alto Networks news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 490,723 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $182.45, for a total value of $89,532,411.35. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,086,404 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $198,214,409.80. The trade was a 31.11 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $179.70, for a total transaction of $21,564,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 365,856 shares in the company, valued at $65,744,323.20. The trade was a 24.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 1,122,864 shares of company stock valued at $204,315,811 in the last ninety days. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.