Townsquare Capital LLC Grows Holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Townsquare Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 101.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 72,096 shares of the network technology company's stock after acquiring an additional 36,330 shares during the quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC's holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $13,119,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Howard Capital Management Group LLC lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 1.5% in the third quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 106,248 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $36,316,000 after buying an additional 1,619 shares during the period. M&T Bank Corp raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 8.6% in the 3rd quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 64,737 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $22,127,000 after acquiring an additional 5,133 shares in the last quarter. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 10.7% in the 3rd quarter. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. now owns 2,606 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $891,000 after purchasing an additional 252 shares during the period. World Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 15.1% during the third quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 8,528 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $2,915,000 after purchasing an additional 1,119 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sfmg LLC grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 1.1% in the third quarter. Sfmg LLC now owns 16,836 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $5,754,000 after purchasing an additional 189 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ PANW traded up $1.64 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $169.98. 5,098,383 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,901,559. The company has a market cap of $112.54 billion, a PE ratio of 95.76, a PEG ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.07. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12 month low of $135.18 and a 12 month high of $208.39. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $181.95 and a 200-day moving average price of $184.92.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on PANW. Loop Capital lowered their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $180.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Truist Financial lowered their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $213.00 to $205.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 31st. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a "sector outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Evercore ISI dropped 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. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $204.52.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 490,723 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $182.45, for a total transaction of $89,532,411.35. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,086,404 shares of the company's stock, valued at $198,214,409.80. This represents a 31.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.22, for a total transaction of $126,854.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 47,976 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $8,694,210.72. The trade was a 1.44 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 1,039,318 shares of company stock worth $181,925,602. Company 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.