Victory Capital Management Inc. Acquires 83,383 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 19.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 519,291 shares of the network technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 83,383 shares during the quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. owned approximately 0.16% of Palo Alto Networks worth $153,129,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Webster Bank N. A. grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 607.1% in the 4th quarter. Webster Bank N. A. now owns 99 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 85 shares during the last quarter. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 87.0% during the 4th quarter. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC now owns 101 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 47 shares in the last quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 37.2% during the 4th quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. now owns 107 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. Byrne Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 277.8% during the 3rd quarter. Byrne Asset Management LLC now owns 136 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alaska Permanent Fund Corp bought a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 4th quarter worth $42,000. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 1.2 %

Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $287.34 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $92.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.96 and a beta of 1.18. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52 week low of $176.30 and a 52 week high of $380.84. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $285.15 and its 200 day moving average price is $293.00.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.58 by $0.22. The firm had revenue of $1.98 billion for 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%. Equities analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.77 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $268.04, for a total transaction of $16,082,400.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 174,075 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $46,659,063. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 174,075 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $46,659,063. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 1,050 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.00, for a total value of $294,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 27,247 shares in the company, valued at $7,629,160. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 122,917 shares of company stock valued at $33,959,203 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 3.30% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on PANW shares. Piper Sandler downgraded Palo Alto Networks from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $350.00 to $300.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. Scotiabank dropped their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $363.00 to $337.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on Palo Alto Networks to $420.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. KeyCorp decreased their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $380.00 to $355.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $274.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $314.82.

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.