Wealth Enhancement Trust Services Inc. Acquires New Shares in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Wealth Enhancement Trust Services Inc. bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm bought 15,393 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,835,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of PANW. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 65,269,963 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $13,290,270,000 after purchasing an additional 1,253,589 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in Palo Alto Networks by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 29,736,916 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $6,055,031,000 after purchasing an additional 505,924 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in Palo Alto Networks by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,528,248 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,532,902,000 after purchasing an additional 36,511 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 11.5% in the 3rd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 5,906,963 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,202,776,000 after purchasing an additional 611,375 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 4,037,320 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $822,079,000 after purchasing an additional 17,394 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on PANW. Citizens Jmp reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and set a $250.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. UBS Group set a $183.00 price target on Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $223.00 price objective (down from $245.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. DA Davidson set a $190.00 price objective on Palo Alto Networks and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $240.00 to $224.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-five have given a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $209.95.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PANW opened at $167.85 on Friday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1 year low of $139.57 and a 1 year high of $223.61. The business’s 50-day moving average is $160.62 and its 200-day moving average is $183.28. The company has a market capitalization of $136.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 92.73, a P/E/G ratio of 6.02 and a beta of 0.77.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 18th. The network technology company reported $1.03 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.94 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $2.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.58 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 17.60% and a net margin of 12.96%.The firm’s revenue was up 14.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.81 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, Director John P. Key sold 1,572 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.32, for a total transaction of $272,459.04. Following the transaction, the director owned 20,000 shares in the company, valued at $3,466,400. The trade was a 7.29% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora bought 68,085 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 27th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $146.87 per share, for a total transaction of $9,999,643.95. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer owned 343,394 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $50,434,276.78. This represents a 24.73% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 30,356 shares of company stock worth $4,981,575. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Profile

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.