Fortis Group Advisors LLC Sells 829 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Fortis Group Advisors LLC lowered its position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 37.3% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,392 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 829 shares during the period. Fortis Group Advisors LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $476,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of PANW. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 7.2% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 1,806 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $533,000 after buying an additional 121 shares in the last quarter. Global Assets Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the 1st quarter valued at about $9,368,000. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 11.4% in the first quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 48,209 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $13,698,000 after acquiring an additional 4,915 shares during the last quarter. Mechanics Bank Trust Department lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 15.6% during the first quarter. Mechanics Bank Trust Department now owns 3,828 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,088,000 after purchasing an additional 518 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 233.6% in the first quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 10,760 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $3,057,000 after purchasing an additional 7,535 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ:PANW traded down $0.28 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $378.13. 305,311 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,008,547. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $233.81 and a fifty-two week high of $384.00. The stock has a market cap of $122.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 55.00, a P/E/G ratio of 5.42 and a beta of 1.13. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $349.61 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $324.19.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 19th. The network technology company reported $1.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.41 by $0.10. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 32.11% and a return on equity of 26.83%. The firm had revenue of $2.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.16 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.80 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 3.56 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 81,586 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $367.99, for a total value of $30,022,832.14. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 618,715 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $227,680,932.85. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 81,586 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $367.99, for a total value of $30,022,832.14. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 618,715 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $227,680,932.85. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Mary Pat Mccarthy sold 10,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $348.49, for a total transaction of $3,484,900.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 31,517 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,983,359.33. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 351,452 shares of company stock worth $118,643,279. Company insiders own 3.30% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PANW has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Susquehanna increased their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $340.00 to $420.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Northland Securities raised their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $275.00 to $350.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Redburn Atlantic cut Palo Alto Networks from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $350.00 to $325.00 in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $350.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Monday, August 19th. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $300.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $375.79.

About Palo Alto Networks

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.