Andrew Hill Investment Advisors Inc. Acquires Shares of 13,186 Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Andrew Hill Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 13,186 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,888,000. Palo Alto Networks makes up 4.1% of Andrew Hill Investment Advisors Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest holding.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. GSG Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. GSG Advisors LLC now owns 5,160 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,478,000 after acquiring an additional 51 shares during the period. Spirit of America Management Corp NY grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 50.0% in the fourth quarter. Spirit of America Management Corp NY now owns 300 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $88,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the period. Truist Financial Corp grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 148.9% in the third quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 189,801 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $44,497,000 after acquiring an additional 113,534 shares during the period. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 46.4% in the fourth quarter. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group now owns 4,178 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,232,000 after acquiring an additional 1,325 shares during the period. Finally, Treasurer of the State of North Carolina grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 0.5% in the third quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 137,104 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $32,143,000 after acquiring an additional 735 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, President William D. Jenkins, Jr. sold 1,867 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.13, for a total transaction of $523,002.71. Following the transaction, the president now owns 25,812 shares in the company, valued at $7,230,715.56. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, President William D. Jenkins, Jr. sold 1,867 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.13, for a total transaction of $523,002.71. Following the transaction, the president now owns 25,812 shares in the company, valued at $7,230,715.56. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 1,050 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.00, for a total transaction of $294,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 27,247 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,629,160. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 167,917 shares of company stock worth $49,395,553 over the last 90 days. 3.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of PANW stock traded down $2.87 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $278.27. 2,396,853 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,552,757. The stock has a market cap of $89.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.20, a P/E/G ratio of 3.78 and a beta of 1.19. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $297.44 and its two-hundred day moving average is $290.12. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52-week low of $176.30 and a 52-week high of $380.84.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.58 by $0.22. The business had revenue of $1.98 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.97 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 30.24% and a return on equity of 36.58%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently commented on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Thursday, January 18th. They issued an “outperform” rating for the company. Westpark Capital reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Monday, January 29th. Susquehanna dropped their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $400.00 to $325.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 26th. Scotiabank dropped their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $363.00 to $337.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $330.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, March 13th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $314.82.

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.