Schaper Benz & Wise Investment Counsel Inc. WI Has $559,000 Stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Schaper Benz & Wise Investment Counsel Inc. WI grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 96.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,070 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,510 shares during the period. Schaper Benz & Wise Investment Counsel Inc. WI’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $559,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of PANW. Jennison Associates LLC raised its position in Palo Alto Networks by 83.0% in the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 5,759,689 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,048,033,000 after buying an additional 2,612,474 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 109.6% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,202,926 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $764,764,000 after acquiring an additional 2,197,765 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 4th quarter worth $388,155,000. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 199.1% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,822,336 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $333,925,000 after purchasing an additional 1,213,073 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 107.8% during the fourth quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 1,634,701 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $297,450,000 after purchasing an additional 848,127 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of PANW opened at $180.93 on Friday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1 year low of $132.50 and a 1 year high of $208.39. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $186.05 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $184.78. The firm has a market cap of $119.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 101.93, a P/E/G ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.04.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Palo Alto Networks news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.22, for a total value of $126,854.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 47,976 shares in the company, valued at $8,694,210.72. This trade represents a 1.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 490,723 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $182.45, for a total value of $89,532,411.35. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,086,404 shares in the company, valued at $198,214,409.80. This trade represents a 31.11 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 1,122,864 shares of company stock worth $204,315,811. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have commented on PANW shares. Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $212.50 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $165.00 to $192.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $223.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $223.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $208.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, twenty-eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $205.06.

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.