Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) Stock Position Lifted by Laird Norton Wetherby Wealth Management LLC

Laird Norton Wetherby Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 92.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 19,908 shares of the network technology company’s stock after buying an additional 9,544 shares during the period. Laird Norton Wetherby Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $3,622,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 72.9% in the fourth quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 9,059 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,648,000 after acquiring an additional 3,820 shares in the last quarter. Czech National Bank boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 115.1% during the 4th quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 141,909 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $25,822,000 after purchasing an additional 75,948 shares in the last quarter. Aprio Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 154.9% during the 4th quarter. Aprio Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,401 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $437,000 after purchasing an additional 1,459 shares in the last quarter. Green Alpha Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 75.0% during the fourth quarter. Green Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 4,847 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $882,000 after buying an additional 2,078 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Crescent Sterling Ltd. boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 102.1% during the fourth quarter. Crescent Sterling Ltd. now owns 1,910 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $348,000 after buying an additional 965 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on PANW. HSBC upgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “reduce” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $156.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Susquehanna raised their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $217.50 to $230.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Truist Financial reduced their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $213.00 to $205.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 31st. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “buy” rating and set a $235.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Monday, March 31st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating, twenty-eight have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $203.06.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 0.8%

Shares of Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $186.93 on Monday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $176.07 and a 200-day simple moving average of $184.78. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1-year low of $142.01 and a 1-year high of $208.39. The stock has a market capitalization of $123.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 105.31, a PEG ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.02.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.75 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $2.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.24 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 14.64% and a return on equity of 21.93%. As a group, research analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $151.13, for a total transaction of $18,252,574.62. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 321,774 shares in the company, valued at $48,629,704.62. The trade was a 27.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.41, for a total value of $16,541,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 3,543,516 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $586,132,981.56. This trade represents a 2.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 568,962 shares of company stock valued at $96,933,690. Insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

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.