Fiduciary Group LLC Sells 2,112 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Fiduciary Group LLC lowered its stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 4.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 42,626 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 2,112 shares during the period. Palo Alto Networks makes up 1.5% of Fiduciary Group LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 15th biggest holding. Fiduciary Group LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $12,570,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of PANW. First Pacific Financial grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 421.7% during the third quarter. First Pacific Financial now owns 120 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 97 shares in the last quarter. Webster Bank N. A. increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 607.1% in the 4th quarter. Webster Bank N. A. now owns 99 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 85 shares during the last quarter. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 87.0% in the 4th quarter. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC now owns 101 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 47 shares during the last quarter. Byrne Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 277.8% during the 3rd quarter. Byrne Asset Management LLC now owns 136 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MV Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 37.2% during the 4th quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. now owns 107 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, President William D. Jenkins, Jr. sold 1,867 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.13, for a total transaction of $523,002.71. Following the completion of the transaction, the president now directly owns 25,812 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,230,715.56. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $268.04, for a total transaction of $16,082,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 174,075 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $46,659,063. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, President William D. Jenkins, Jr. sold 1,867 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.13, for a total transaction of $523,002.71. Following the transaction, the president now directly owns 25,812 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,230,715.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 167,917 shares of company stock valued at $49,395,553. Company insiders own 3.30% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on PANW. Northland Securities lowered Palo Alto Networks from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and set a $275.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $315.00 to $405.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $274.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Piper Sandler lowered Palo Alto Networks from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $350.00 to $300.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Finally, KeyCorp dropped their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $380.00 to $355.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $314.82.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 0.9 %

Palo Alto Networks stock traded up $2.63 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $291.42. The company had a trading volume of 2,246,512 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,487,617. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52 week low of $176.30 and a 52 week high of $380.84. The company has a 50 day moving average of $287.61 and a 200-day moving average of $292.35. The firm has a market cap of $94.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.53, a PEG ratio of 3.96 and a beta of 1.19.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by $0.22. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 30.24% and a return on equity of 36.58%. The firm had revenue of $1.98 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.97 billion. On average, analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Palo Alto Networks

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.