US Bancorp DE Grows Stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

US Bancorp DE raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 2.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 579,729 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 16,373 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE owned 0.18% of Palo Alto Networks worth $170,950,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Webster Bank N. A. raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 607.1% in the fourth quarter. Webster Bank N. A. now owns 99 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 85 shares during the period. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 87.0% in the fourth quarter. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC now owns 101 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 47 shares during the last quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 37.2% during the fourth quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. now owns 107 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 29 shares during the period. First United Bank & Trust purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Finally, Alaska Permanent Fund Corp bought a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $42,000. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, President William D. Jenkins, Jr. sold 1,867 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.13, for a total value of $523,002.71. Following the completion of the sale, the president now directly owns 25,812 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,230,715.56. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, President William D. Jenkins, Jr. sold 1,867 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.13, for a total value of $523,002.71. Following the completion of the transaction, the president now owns 25,812 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,230,715.56. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 121,276 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $299.60, for a total transaction of $36,334,289.60. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 166,542 shares in the company, valued at $49,895,983.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 280,193 shares of company stock valued at $80,670,132 over the last quarter. 3.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have weighed in on PANW. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $380.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $330.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $330.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday. Redburn Atlantic increased their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $275.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. Finally, Loop Capital downgraded Palo Alto Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $300.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $317.45.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PANW traded up $1.50 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $310.08. 2,655,700 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,154,103. The company’s 50-day moving average is $289.10 and its 200-day moving average is $299.07. The firm has a market capitalization of $100.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.79, a PEG ratio of 5.03 and a beta of 1.18. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52-week low of $194.08 and a 52-week high of $380.84.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 20th. The network technology company reported $1.32 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.25 by $0.07. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 31.42% and a return on equity of 32.74%. The business had revenue of $1.98 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.97 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.38 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.