IFG Advisors LLC Acquires Shares of 3,454 Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

IFG Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 3,454 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $629,000.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Swedbank AB lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 19.7% in the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 786,574 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $268,851,000 after buying an additional 129,371 shares during the last quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 106,248 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $36,316,000 after buying an additional 1,619 shares during the last quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 613.9% in the 3rd quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 257 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $88,000 after buying an additional 221 shares during the last quarter. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 6.7% in the 3rd quarter. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC now owns 39,144 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $13,379,000 after buying an additional 2,474 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Securities Inc. lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 11,538 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $3,944,000 after buying an additional 163 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.22, for a total value of $126,854.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 47,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,694,210.72. This represents a 1.44 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 235,492 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.32, for a total value of $43,170,393.44. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,086,404 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $199,159,581.28. This trade represents a 17.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 1,122,864 shares of company stock valued at $204,315,811. Corporate insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 1.6 %

NASDAQ:PANW opened at $190.43 on Friday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1-year low of $132.50 and a 1-year high of $208.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $126.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 107.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.14. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $186.64 and a 200 day simple moving average of $184.44.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $2.26 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.24 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 21.93% and a net margin of 14.64%. Equities analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PANW has been the topic of several recent research reports. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $212.50 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $225.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Needham & Company LLC lifted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $192.50 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, HSBC downgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $152.00 to $145.50 in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, twenty-eight have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $205.06.

Palo Alto Networks 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.