City Holding Co. Grows Stock Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

City Holding Co. boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 23.9% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 24,710 shares of the network technology company’s stock after buying an additional 4,765 shares during the period. City Holding Co.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $5,031,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. O ROURKE & COMPANY Inc grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 9.0% in the third quarter. O ROURKE & COMPANY Inc now owns 1,162 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $237,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares during the period. Mechanics Bank Trust Department boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 54.4% in the 3rd quarter. Mechanics Bank Trust Department now owns 9,948 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $2,026,000 after purchasing an additional 3,503 shares during the last quarter. Daymark Wealth Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 65.4% during the 3rd quarter. Daymark Wealth Partners LLC now owns 7,183 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,463,000 after buying an additional 2,841 shares during the period. Crown Wealth Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 13.8% during the 3rd quarter. Crown Wealth Group LLC now owns 3,093 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $630,000 after buying an additional 376 shares during the period. Finally, GoalVest Advisory LLC increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1,248.9% during the 3rd quarter. GoalVest Advisory LLC now owns 10,899 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $2,219,000 after buying an additional 10,091 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director James J. Goetz sold 12,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $195.33, for a total transaction of $2,441,625.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 75,184 shares in the company, valued at $14,685,690.72. This trade represents a 14.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $188.18, for a total value of $940,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 155,119 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,190,293.42. This trade represents a 3.12% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 260,448 shares of company stock worth $53,168,301. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PANW has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Barclays lifted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $215.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, November 10th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $245.00 price objective (up from $228.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Thursday, December 18th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 target price (up previously from $235.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Tuesday, November 11th. Rosenblatt Securities raised their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 18th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 17th. Thirty-one research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $226.20.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $179.37 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $125.02 billion, a PE ratio of 113.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.28 and a beta of 0.76. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a one year low of $144.15 and a one year high of $223.61. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $196.95 and its 200 day moving average price is $196.52.

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

Palo Alto Networks Company 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.