Hoey Investments Inc. Decreases Stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Hoey Investments Inc. reduced its holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 36.0% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 704 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 396 shares during the quarter. Hoey Investments Inc.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $120,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. CRA Financial Services LLC raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 3.1% during the first quarter. CRA Financial Services LLC now owns 7,400 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,263,000 after buying an additional 221 shares during the last quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. increased its position in Palo Alto Networks by 10.8% during the first quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. now owns 90,524 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $15,447,000 after acquiring an additional 8,804 shares during the last quarter. Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. increased its position in Palo Alto Networks by 1.4% during the first quarter. Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. now owns 130,264 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $22,228,000 after acquiring an additional 1,748 shares during the last quarter. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 0.8% during the first quarter. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. now owns 14,317 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $2,443,000 after purchasing an additional 117 shares during the period. Finally, BNC Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 1.1% during the first quarter. BNC Wealth Management LLC now owns 30,510 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $5,206,000 after purchasing an additional 324 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.41, for a total transaction of $16,541,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,543,516 shares in the company, valued at approximately $586,132,981.56. The trade was a 2.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 227,414 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 317,571 shares in the company, valued at approximately $54,854,038.83. The trade was a 41.73% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 789,736 shares of company stock worth $139,837,528 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on PANW shares. Truist Financial cut their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $213.00 to $205.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 31st. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $223.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Monday, May 19th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 16th. HSBC upgraded Palo Alto Networks from a “reduce” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $156.00 price target on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Finally, KeyCorp reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $220.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating and twenty-seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $208.00.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

PANW stock opened at $196.27 on Friday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1 year low of $142.01 and a 1 year high of $208.39. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $184.15 and its 200 day moving average price is $185.11. The firm has a market cap of $130.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 110.58, a PEG ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 0.97.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 21.93% and a net margin of 14.64%. The business had revenue of $2.29 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.28 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.66 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current 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.