Citizens National Bank Trust Department Increases Stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Citizens National Bank Trust Department grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 100.0% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,600 shares of the network technology company’s stock after buying an additional 800 shares during the period. Citizens National Bank Trust Department’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $291,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. raised its position in Palo Alto Networks by 97.2% during the 4th quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 140 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 69 shares during the last quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC raised its position in Palo Alto Networks by 113.9% during the 3rd quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 77 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in Palo Alto Networks by 246.3% during the 4th quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 142 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 101 shares during the last quarter. Abound Wealth Management increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 97.3% in the 4th quarter. Abound Wealth Management now owns 146 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 72 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 265.0% in the 4th quarter. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 146 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 106 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 235,492 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.32, for a total transaction of $43,170,393.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,086,404 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $199,159,581.28. The trade was a 17.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 336,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $193.70, for a total transaction of $65,081,520.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,643,516 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $705,730,831.62. This trade represents a 8.44 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,458,864 shares of company stock valued at $269,397,331 over the last 90 days. 2.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on PANW. Truist Financial increased their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $212.50 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $208.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Loop Capital cut their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $180.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Westpark Capital reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $196.40 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, HSBC cut shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $152.00 to $145.50 in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $202.70.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 1.5 %

PANW stock opened at $205.19 on Thursday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a twelve month low of $130.04 and a twelve month high of $208.39. The company has a market capitalization of $135.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 115.60, a PEG ratio of 5.96 and a beta of 1.14. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $187.11 and a 200-day simple moving average of $182.68.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 EPS 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 the consensus estimate of $2.24 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 14.64% and a return on equity of 21.93%. On average, research analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.75 EPS for the current year.

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.