Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) Shares Bought by Hills Bank & Trust Co

Hills Bank & Trust Co lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 98.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 42,765 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 21,263 shares during the quarter. Hills Bank & Trust Co’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $7,782,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Swedbank AB increased its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 129,371 shares during the period. Howard Capital Management Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.5% during the third 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 period. United Bank boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.3% during the third quarter. United Bank now owns 6,835 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $2,336,000 after buying an additional 90 shares during the period. Harbour Investments Inc. grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 1,989 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $680,000 after buying an additional 33 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GSA Capital Partners LLP acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $231,000. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on PANW. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $225.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Evercore ISI cut their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $455.00 to $230.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, December 31st. Needham & Company LLC lifted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $192.50 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Scotiabank upped their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, twenty-eight have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $205.06.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Palo Alto Networks news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 235,492 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.32, for a total transaction of $43,170,393.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,086,404 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $199,159,581.28. The trade was a 17.81 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 99,707 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $182.45, for a total value of $18,191,542.15. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 358,197 shares in the company, valued at approximately $65,353,042.65. This represents a 21.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 1,122,864 shares of company stock valued at $204,315,811 over the last 90 days. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PANW opened at $182.34 on Friday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $185.63 and a 200 day simple moving average of $184.79. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52 week low of $132.50 and a 52 week high of $208.39. The stock has a market cap of $120.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 102.73, a PEG ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.04.

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

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.