Balentine LLC Buys 507 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Balentine LLC grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 35.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,935 shares of the network technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 507 shares during the period. Balentine LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $571,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Thoroughbred Financial Services LLC boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Thoroughbred Financial Services LLC now owns 2,113 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $623,000 after buying an additional 40 shares during the period. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 92.6% in the 4th quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,903 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,151,000 after purchasing an additional 1,877 shares in the last quarter. Paragon Private Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the 4th quarter worth approximately $208,000. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 87.3% in the 4th quarter. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC now owns 23,023 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $6,789,000 after purchasing an additional 10,729 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 10.5% in the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 65,572 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $19,336,000 after purchasing an additional 6,217 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 1,050 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.00, for a total transaction of $294,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 27,247 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,629,160. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Palo Alto Networks news, President William D. Jenkins, Jr. sold 1,867 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.13, for a total transaction of $523,002.71. Following the completion of the transaction, the president now owns 25,812 shares in the company, valued at $7,230,715.56. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 1,050 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,629,160. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 280,193 shares of company stock valued at $80,670,132 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 3.30% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PANW opened at $311.66 on Wednesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $288.74 and a 200-day moving average price of $299.00. The stock has a market cap of $100.70 billion, a PE ratio of 45.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.40 and a beta of 1.18. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1 year low of $188.30 and a 1 year high of $380.84.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 20th. The network technology company reported $1.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.25 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $1.98 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.97 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 31.42% and a return on equity of 37.81%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.38 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.77 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PANW has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $380.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $330.00 to $340.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 16th. Northland Securities lowered shares of Palo Alto Networks from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and set a $275.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $274.00 to $310.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Finally, Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $330.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $317.20.

About Palo Alto Networks

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.