WealthBridge Investment Counsel Inc. Buys Shares of 28,988 Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

WealthBridge Investment Counsel Inc. bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm bought 28,988 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,340,000. Palo Alto Networks accounts for about 1.6% of WealthBridge Investment Counsel Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 28th largest holding.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Darwin Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter valued at about $25,000. Winch Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 96.1% in the 3rd quarter. Winch Advisory Services LLC now owns 149 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 73 shares during the last quarter. Painted Porch Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 72.7% in the 3rd quarter. Painted Porch Advisors LLC now owns 152 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 64 shares during the last quarter. Caitlin John LLC acquired a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the 3rd quarter valued at about $31,000. Finally, Palisade Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the 3rd quarter valued at about $33,000. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $200.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 19th. DA Davidson set a $190.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $185.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Wolfe Research upped their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, December 15th. Finally, Citizens Jmp restated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $250.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-five have given a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $209.95.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, Director James J. Goetz sold 22,684 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $164.41, for a total transaction of $3,729,476.44. Following the sale, the director directly owned 52,500 shares in the company, valued at $8,631,525. This represents a 30.17% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.42, for a total transaction of $802,100.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 150,250 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,103,105. This trade represents a 3.22% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 28,784 shares of company stock valued at $4,709,116 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of PANW stock opened at $173.78 on Thursday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $161.22 and its 200-day moving average price is $185.23. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a one year low of $139.57 and a one year high of $223.61. The firm has a market cap of $141.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 96.01, a P/E/G ratio of 5.89 and a beta of 0.77.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 18th. The network technology company reported $1.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.94 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $2.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.58 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 12.96% and a return on equity of 17.60%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 14.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.81 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Palo Alto Networks

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.