Valley Wealth Managers Inc. Increases Stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Valley Wealth Managers Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 117.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,212 shares of the network technology company's stock after purchasing an additional 2,278 shares during the period. Valley Wealth Managers Inc.'s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $766,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 34,318.2% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,259,063 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $1,113,948,000 after buying an additional 3,249,594 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC grew its stake 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 valued at $1,048,033,000 after buying an additional 2,612,474 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 199.1% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,822,336 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $333,925,000 after buying an additional 1,213,073 shares during the period. Swedbank AB lifted 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 worth $297,450,000 after acquiring an additional 848,127 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted 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 worth $284,353,000 after acquiring an additional 796,964 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently commented on PANW. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $195.00 to $212.50 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Rosenblatt Securities raised their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $212.50 to $235.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Scotiabank lifted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Needham & Company LLC raised their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $192.50 to $225.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $165.00 to $192.50 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $202.70.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 336,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $193.70, for a total transaction of $65,081,520.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,643,516 shares of the company's stock, valued at $705,730,831.62. This trade represents a 8.44 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.22, for a total transaction of $126,854.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 47,976 shares in the company, valued at $8,694,210.72. This represents a 1.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 1,458,864 shares of company stock valued at $269,397,331. Insiders own 2.50% of the company's stock.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 3.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ:PANW traded down $7.78 on Friday, reaching $191.03. 5,451,305 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,377,549. The firm has a market cap of $126.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 107.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.82 and a beta of 1.14. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1-year low of $132.50 and a 1-year high of $208.39. The company has a 50-day moving average of $187.20 and a 200-day moving average of $182.95.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.75 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $2.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.24 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 14.64% and a return on equity of 21.93%. As a group, analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

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.