Bernard Wealth Management Corp. Cuts Holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Bernard Wealth Management Corp. trimmed its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 16.4% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 13,896 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 2,735 shares during the quarter. Palo Alto Networks accounts for about 1.2% of Bernard Wealth Management Corp.’s holdings, making the stock its 20th largest position. Bernard Wealth Management Corp.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $2,830,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Brighton Jones LLC increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 147.7% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,761 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,230,000 after acquiring an additional 4,031 shares during the last quarter. Bison Wealth LLC boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 169.1% during the fourth quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 5,212 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $948,000 after purchasing an additional 3,275 shares during the period. ICONIQ Capital LLC increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 39.2% in the first quarter. ICONIQ Capital LLC now owns 3,515 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $600,000 after purchasing an additional 989 shares in the last quarter. Comerica Bank raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 5.1% in the first quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 225,799 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $38,530,000 after purchasing an additional 10,939 shares during the period. Finally, Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 93.1% during the 1st quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 1,719 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $293,000 after buying an additional 829 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently issued reports on PANW shares. BTIG Research reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, December 17th. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $232.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 12th. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $207.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 20th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 14th. Finally, Stephens upped their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 20th. Thirty-one equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $226.20.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 1.4%

Shares of NASDAQ PANW opened at $189.49 on Tuesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $201.48 and its 200 day moving average is $197.29. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52 week low of $144.15 and a 52 week high of $223.61. The company has a market cap of $132.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 119.93, a PEG ratio of 4.43 and a beta of 0.79.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.89 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $2.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.46 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 17.05% and a net margin of 11.69%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 15.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.56 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $189.39, for a total transaction of $132,573.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 46,805 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,864,398.95. This trade represents a 1.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $191.91, for a total transaction of $23,177,738.34. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 327,645 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $62,878,351.95. The trade was a 26.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 376,922 shares of company stock valued at $77,963,339 in the last ninety days. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Profile

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ: PANW) is a cybersecurity company founded in 2005 and headquartered in Santa Clara, California. The firm develops a broad suite of security products and services designed to prevent successful cyberattacks and protect enterprise networks, clouds, and endpoints. Built around a platform strategy, its offerings target threat prevention, detection, response and governance across hybrid and multi-cloud environments.

The company’s product portfolio includes next‑generation firewalls as a core on‑premises capability, alongside cloud‑delivered security services and software for securing public and private clouds.