Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW Shares Bought by Rockland Trust Co.

Rockland Trust Co. lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 1,263.8% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 21,684 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 20,094 shares during the quarter. Rockland Trust Co.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $4,415,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of PANW. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the second quarter worth approximately $675,865,000. ABN AMRO Bank N.V. acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter valued at $340,883,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2.0% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 64,016,374 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $13,100,311,000 after buying an additional 1,240,830 shares in the last quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 97.9% in the 2nd quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 2,104,939 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $430,755,000 after buying an additional 1,041,145 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 3,881.4% in the third quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 721,157 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $146,842,000 after buying an additional 703,044 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on PANW shares. TD Cowen lifted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $230.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 13th. Robert W. Baird raised 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 report on Friday, November 14th. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 18th. HSBC lowered shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating and set a $157.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Monday, November 24th. Thirty-one research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $228.32.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 800 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.81, for a total value of $147,848.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 46,005 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,502,184.05. This represents a 1.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $188.18, for a total transaction of $940,900.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 155,119 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,190,293.42. This represents a 3.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 260,542 shares of company stock valued at $49,910,995 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $166.00 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $184.61 and its 200-day simple moving average is $193.20. The company has a market cap of $115.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 105.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.80 and a beta of 0.75. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $144.15 and a fifty-two week high of $223.61.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $2.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.46 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.56 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 15.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS 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.