Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW Shares Acquired by Mechanics Bank Trust Department

Mechanics Bank Trust Department boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 54.4% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 9,948 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,503 shares during the quarter. Mechanics Bank Trust Department’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $2,026,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of PANW. Brighton Jones LLC raised its position in Palo Alto Networks by 147.7% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,761 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,230,000 after acquiring an additional 4,031 shares in the last quarter. Bison Wealth LLC grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 169.1% in the 4th quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 5,212 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $948,000 after purchasing an additional 3,275 shares during the last quarter. Clark Capital Management Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 47.8% in the 1st quarter. Clark Capital Management Group Inc. now owns 2,262 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $386,000 after purchasing an additional 732 shares in the last quarter. Plancorp LLC raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 62.7% in the 1st quarter. Plancorp LLC now owns 3,319 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $566,000 after purchasing an additional 1,279 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UniSuper Management Pty Ltd lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 221.4% during the first quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 129,484 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $22,095,000 after purchasing an additional 89,196 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have issued reports on PANW shares. Evercore ISI upped their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $220.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 13th. New Street Research boosted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $235.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 12th. HSBC downgraded Palo Alto Networks from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating and set a $157.00 target price for the company. in a report on Thursday, November 20th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $245.00 price objective (up from $228.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Thursday, December 18th. Finally, Mizuho set a $220.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday, December 16th. Thirty-one equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $226.20.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $189.39, for a total value of $132,573.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 46,805 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,864,398.95. The trade was a 1.47% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director James J. Goetz sold 12,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $195.33, for a total transaction of $2,441,625.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 75,184 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,685,690.72. The trade was a 14.26% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 260,448 shares of company stock valued at $53,168,301 in the last three months. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of PANW opened at $179.37 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $125.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 113.53, a P/E/G ratio of 4.28 and a beta of 0.76. The business’s 50-day moving average is $196.95 and its 200-day moving average is $196.52. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $144.15 and a fifty-two week high of $223.61.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.89 by $0.04. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 11.69% and a return on equity of 17.05%. The firm had revenue of $2.47 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.46 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.56 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 15.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Palo Alto Networks

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ: PANW) is a cybersecurity company founded in 2005 and headquartered in Santa Clara, California. The firm develops a broad suite of security products and services designed to prevent successful cyberattacks and protect enterprise networks, clouds, and endpoints. Built around a platform strategy, its offerings target threat prevention, detection, response and governance across hybrid and multi-cloud environments.

The company’s product portfolio includes next‑generation firewalls as a core on‑premises capability, alongside cloud‑delivered security services and software for securing public and private clouds.