Yousif Capital Management LLC Trims Stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Yousif Capital Management LLC lowered its stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 0.4% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 78,960 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 356 shares during the quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $13,474,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 147.7% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,761 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,230,000 after purchasing an additional 4,031 shares during the period. Angeles Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 105.0% during the 4th quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,382 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $433,000 after purchasing an additional 1,220 shares during the period. Savant Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 88.1% during the 4th quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 12,761 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $2,322,000 after purchasing an additional 5,978 shares during the period. Comprehensive Financial Planning Inc. PA purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 4th quarter worth $101,000. Finally, Opal Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 117.6% during the 4th quarter. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,334 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $243,000 after purchasing an additional 721 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 0.2%

Shares of PANW opened at $195.95 on Wednesday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52 week low of $142.01 and a 52 week high of $208.39. The firm has a market cap of $130.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 110.39, a PEG ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 0.97. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $181.56 and a 200-day moving average of $185.03.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $2.29 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.28 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 14.64% and a return on equity of 21.93%. The firm’s revenue was up 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.66 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $230.00 to $205.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Citigroup increased their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $205.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Stephens lowered Palo Alto Networks from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. TD Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $230.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, Truist Financial cut their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $213.00 to $205.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 31st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating and twenty-seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $208.00.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.41, for a total transaction of $16,541,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,543,516 shares in the company, valued at approximately $586,132,981.56. This represents a 2.74% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 227,414 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.73, for a total value of $39,281,220.22. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 317,571 shares in the company, valued at $54,854,038.83. The trade was a 41.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 789,736 shares of company stock valued at $139,837,528 in the last quarter. Insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks 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.