Truist Financial Corp Grows Stock Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Truist Financial Corp raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 109.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 673,767 shares of the network technology company's stock after acquiring an additional 351,877 shares during the period. Truist Financial Corp owned approximately 0.10% of Palo Alto Networks worth $122,599,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PANW. Wealth Quarterback LLC lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 78.5% during the 4th quarter. Wealth Quarterback LLC now owns 7,703 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $1,402,000 after buying an additional 3,388 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 113.3% during the 4th quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 285,535 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $51,956,000 after buying an additional 151,671 shares during the last quarter. Pittenger & Anderson Inc. lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 312.0% during the 4th quarter. Pittenger & Anderson Inc. now owns 101,269 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $18,427,000 after buying an additional 76,687 shares during the last quarter. Highview Capital Management LLC DE lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 103.5% during the 4th quarter. Highview Capital Management LLC DE now owns 6,426 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $1,169,000 after buying an additional 3,268 shares during the last quarter. Finally, 5T Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 4th quarter worth $666,000. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 3.9 %

NASDAQ:PANW traded down $7.78 on Friday, hitting $191.03. The stock had a trading volume of 5,451,305 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,377,549. The business's fifty day moving average is $187.20 and its 200 day moving average is $182.95. The company has a market cap of $126.48 billion, a PE ratio of 107.62, a P/E/G ratio of 5.82 and a beta of 1.14. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52 week low of $132.50 and a 52 week high of $208.39.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. Barclays dropped their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $425.00 to $213.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $192.50 to $220.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Needham & Company LLC upped their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $192.50 to $225.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Scotiabank upped their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a "sector outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $202.70.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 336,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $193.70, for a total transaction of $65,081,520.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,643,516 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $705,730,831.62. This trade represents a 8.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 490,723 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,086,404 shares of the company's stock, valued at $198,214,409.80. The trade was a 31.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 1,458,864 shares of company stock worth $269,397,331 over the last 90 days. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.