HTLF Bank Buys New Holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

HTLF Bank acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund acquired 1,506 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $444,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Covestor Ltd increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 61.8% during the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 55 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares in the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 0.8% during the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 2,961 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,843,000 after buying an additional 23 shares during the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 6.5% during the first quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 425 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $265,000 after acquiring an additional 26 shares in the last quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 6.4% in the 1st quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC now owns 452 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $281,000 after acquiring an additional 27 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MV Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 37.2% in the 4th quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. now owns 107 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 29 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PANW has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Susquehanna decreased their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $400.00 to $325.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 26th. Stifel Nicolaus restated a “buy” rating and set a $330.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $330.00 to $385.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. Oppenheimer raised their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $305.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, January 18th. They set an “outperform” rating on the stock. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $314.82.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

NASDAQ PANW opened at $277.71 on Friday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52-week low of $176.30 and a 52-week high of $380.84. The company has a fifty day moving average of $295.46 and a 200-day moving average of $290.40. The company has a market capitalization of $89.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.39, a P/E/G ratio of 3.83 and a beta of 1.19.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $268.04, for a total value of $16,082,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 174,075 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $46,659,063. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $268.04, for a total value of $16,082,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 174,075 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $46,659,063. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, President William D. Jenkins, Jr. sold 1,867 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.13, for a total value of $523,002.71. Following the completion of the sale, the president now owns 25,812 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,230,715.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 167,917 shares of company stock valued at $49,395,553. 3.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Company 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.