XML Financial LLC Boosts Holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

XML Financial LLC lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 29.3% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,020 shares of the network technology company’s stock after buying an additional 458 shares during the period. XML Financial LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $345,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Uniting Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 4th quarter valued at $548,000. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 106.4% during the 4th quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 2,378 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $433,000 after purchasing an additional 1,226 shares during the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 94.3% during the 4th quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 11,661 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $2,122,000 after purchasing an additional 5,658 shares during the last quarter. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 108.1% during the 4th quarter. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC now owns 21,354 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $3,886,000 after purchasing an additional 11,095 shares during the last quarter. Finally, National Pension Service grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 82.1% during the 4th quarter. National Pension Service now owns 1,345,740 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $244,871,000 after purchasing an additional 606,778 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

PANW stock opened at $203.32 on Tuesday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $188.10 and its 200-day simple moving average is $185.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $135.57 billion, a PE ratio of 116.18, a P/E/G ratio of 5.56 and a beta of 0.97. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12 month low of $142.01 and a 12 month high of $208.39.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $2.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.28 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 13.95% and a return on equity of 19.48%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.66 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PANW has been the topic of several research reports. Stephens downgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. TD Securities reissued a “buy” rating and set a $230.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. KeyCorp reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $220.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Truist Financial lowered their price objective on shares of 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. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $223.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Monday, May 19th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and twenty-seven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $208.00.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 227,414 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.73, for a total transaction of $39,281,220.22. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 317,571 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $54,854,038.83. This represents a 41.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at 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 shares were sold at an average price of $165.41, for a total transaction of $16,541,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,543,516 shares in the company, valued at $586,132,981.56. The trade was a 2.74% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 790,536 shares of company stock worth $139,998,368 over the last ninety days. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.