Pinnacle Wealth Management Advisory Group LLC Makes New Investment in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Pinnacle Wealth Management Advisory Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor purchased 1,025 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $302,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. National Pension Service raised its position in Palo Alto Networks by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. National Pension Service now owns 622,330 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $183,513,000 after purchasing an additional 15,454 shares during the period. RMR Wealth Builders lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 6.4% in the 4th quarter. RMR Wealth Builders now owns 2,212 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $652,000 after acquiring an additional 134 shares during the last quarter. Everpar Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the 4th quarter valued at about $952,000. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC bought a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the 4th quarter worth approximately $336,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 5.1% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,746,971 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $515,147,000 after purchasing an additional 84,151 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

PANW stock traded down $5.99 during trading on Thursday, hitting $297.02. 1,796,762 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,195,009. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $285.75 and a 200 day simple moving average of $294.47. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52 week low of $186.75 and a 52 week high of $380.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $95.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.49, a P/E/G ratio of 4.03 and a beta of 1.18.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.58 by $0.22. The company had revenue of $1.98 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.97 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 36.58% and a net margin of 30.24%. Research analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently commented on the stock. Westpark Capital reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Monday, January 29th. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $330.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. Scotiabank decreased their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $363.00 to $337.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Loop Capital cut shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $300.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. Finally, Truist Financial upped their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $330.00 to $385.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $314.82.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Palo Alto Networks news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 1,050 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 27,247 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,629,160. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 121,276 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $299.60, for a total transaction of $36,334,289.60. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 166,542 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $49,895,983.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 1,050 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.00, for a total value of $294,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 27,247 shares in the company, valued at $7,629,160. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 280,193 shares of company stock worth $80,670,132 over the last three months. 3.30% of the stock is owned by 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.