Legacy Financial Advisors Inc. Acquires 1,081 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Legacy Financial Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 106.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,094 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,081 shares during the period. Legacy Financial Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $381,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Uniting Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the fourth quarter valued at about $548,000. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 94.3% in the 4th quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 11,661 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $2,122,000 after buying an additional 5,658 shares during the last quarter. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC raised its stake 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 worth $3,886,000 after acquiring an additional 11,095 shares in the last quarter. National Pension Service lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 82.1% during the fourth quarter. National Pension Service now owns 1,345,740 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $244,871,000 after acquiring an additional 606,778 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mosley Wealth Management boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 116.2% in the fourth quarter. Mosley Wealth Management now owns 3,023 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $561,000 after acquiring an additional 1,625 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.22, for a total value of $126,854.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 47,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,694,210.72. The trade was a 1.44 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 490,723 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $182.45, for a total transaction of $89,532,411.35. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,086,404 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $198,214,409.80. The trade was a 31.11 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 939,318 shares of company stock valued at $165,384,602 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $168.27 on Friday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1-year low of $135.18 and a 1-year high of $208.39. The stock has a market cap of $111.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 94.80, a P/E/G ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.07. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $182.59 and its 200-day simple moving average is $184.81.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.75 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $2.26 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.24 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 21.93% and a net margin of 14.64%. As a group, research analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently commented on the company. Guggenheim lowered Palo Alto Networks from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $130.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Monday, January 6th. Evercore ISI lowered their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $455.00 to $230.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, December 31st. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $205.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $240.00 to $215.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 31st. Finally, Scotiabank upped their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $204.52.

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.