Golden State Equity Partners Sells 60 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Golden State Equity Partners decreased its position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 1.4% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 4,303 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 60 shares during the quarter. Golden State Equity Partners’ holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $734,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Uniting Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the 4th quarter worth approximately $548,000. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group increased its position in shares of 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 valued at $433,000 after purchasing an additional 1,226 shares during the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. increased its position in shares of 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 valued at $2,122,000 after purchasing an additional 5,658 shares during the last quarter. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of 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 valued at $3,886,000 after purchasing an additional 11,095 shares during the last quarter. Finally, National Pension Service increased its position in shares of 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 valued at $244,871,000 after purchasing an additional 606,778 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $201.05, for a total transaction of $160,840.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 42,033 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,450,734.65. This represents a 1.87% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 227,414 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.73, for a total value of $39,281,220.22. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 317,571 shares in the company, valued at $54,854,038.83. This represents a 41.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 795,536 shares of company stock worth $141,007,618 in the last three months. 2.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Barclays cut their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $213.00 to $210.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $221.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Northland Securities cut their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $210.00 to $177.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “buy” rating and set a $235.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $208.00.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PANW opened at $204.30 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $136.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 116.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.63 and a beta of 0.97. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1-year low of $142.01 and a 1-year high of $208.39. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $189.35 and a 200 day moving average price of $185.33.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 earnings per share 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 analysts’ expectations of $2.28 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 19.48% and a net margin of 13.95%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.66 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.