Blue Fin Capital Inc. Buys 1,162 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Blue Fin Capital Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 100.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,324 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,162 shares during the quarter. Blue Fin Capital Inc.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $423,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 104.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 61,233,907 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $11,142,122,000 after purchasing an additional 31,281,359 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Palo Alto Networks by 87.8% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,382,116 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $2,611,013,000 after buying an additional 6,725,148 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the fourth quarter worth approximately $970,736,000. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 133.7% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,842,647 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,427,048,000 after acquiring an additional 4,486,654 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 83.8% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 8,427,062 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,533,419,000 after acquiring an additional 3,841,359 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on PANW. TD Securities reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $230.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $221.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Northland Securities reduced their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $210.00 to $177.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $229.00 to $225.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Truist Financial cut their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $213.00 to $205.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 31st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $206.40.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 227,414 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 317,571 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $54,854,038.83. This represents a 41.73% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $189.27, for a total transaction of $22,858,894.98. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 293,010 shares in the company, valued at $55,458,002.70. The trade was a 29.19% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 568,962 shares of company stock worth $96,933,690 in the last three months. Insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PANW opened at $181.26 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $120.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 102.12, a P/E/G ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a 50 day moving average of $178.01 and a 200-day moving average of $185.29. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a one year low of $142.01 and a one year high of $208.39.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its earnings results 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 analyst estimates of $2.28 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 14.64% and a return on equity of 21.93%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 15.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.66 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

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.