EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC Buys 11,595 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 102.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 22,870 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 11,595 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $4,161,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of PANW. Swedbank AB boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 19.7% in the third 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 last quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC lifted its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 1,619 shares during the last quarter. United Bank boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. United Bank now owns 6,835 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $2,336,000 after acquiring an additional 90 shares during the period. XML Financial LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 15.2% in the third quarter. XML Financial LLC now owns 681 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $233,000 after buying an additional 90 shares during the period. Finally, Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 15.8% during the 3rd quarter. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. now owns 815 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $279,000 after purchasing an additional 111 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have commented on PANW shares. Northland Securities restated a “market perform” rating and issued a $185.00 price target (up from $175.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Scotiabank increased their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $165.00 to $192.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Hsbc Global Res downgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Needham & Company LLC boosted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $192.50 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $205.06.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.22, for a total value of $126,854.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 47,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,694,210.72. This represents a 1.44 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 490,723 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $182.45, for a total transaction of $89,532,411.35. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,086,404 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $198,214,409.80. The trade was a 31.11 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,122,864 shares of company stock worth $204,315,811 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 2.9 %

Shares of Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $178.93 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $118.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 100.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.04. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $185.78 and its 200-day simple moving average is $184.83. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52-week low of $132.50 and a 52-week high of $208.39.

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

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.