Strategic Planning Group LLC Buys 3,735 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Strategic Planning Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 5.6% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 70,068 shares of the network technology company’s stock after buying an additional 3,735 shares during the period. Palo Alto Networks accounts for 1.7% of Strategic Planning Group LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 20th largest position. Strategic Planning Group LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $12,907,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of PANW. Brighton Jones LLC grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 147.7% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,761 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,230,000 after buying an additional 4,031 shares during the last quarter. Bison Wealth LLC grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 169.1% during the fourth quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 5,212 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $948,000 after buying an additional 3,275 shares during the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 66.3% during the second quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 3,484 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $713,000 after buying an additional 1,389 shares during the last quarter. Osterweis Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 11,100.0% during the second quarter. Osterweis Capital Management Inc. now owns 560 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $115,000 after buying an additional 555 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Main Street Financial Solutions LLC grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 6.0% during the second quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC now owns 4,398 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $900,000 after buying an additional 249 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PANW opened at $213.66 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $174.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 118.04, a PEG ratio of 7.49 and a beta of 0.77. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $168.60 and a 200 day moving average price of $180.57. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52-week low of $139.57 and a 52-week high of $223.61.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 18th. The network technology company reported $1.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.94 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $2.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.58 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 17.60% and a net margin of 12.96%.Palo Alto Networks’s quarterly revenue was up 14.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.81 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $209.00 target price on Palo Alto Networks and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. UBS Group set a $183.00 target price on Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. DA Davidson set a $190.00 target price on Palo Alto Networks and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Argus upgraded Palo Alto Networks to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 20th. Finally, TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-six have issued a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $212.09.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 1,100 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $161.40, for a total transaction of $177,540.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 83,136 shares in the company, valued at $13,418,150.40. This represents a 1.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora bought 68,085 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 27th. The shares were bought at an average price of $146.87 per share, with a total value of $9,999,643.95. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer owned 343,394 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $50,434,276.78. This trade represents a 24.73% increase in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. Insiders have sold 30,356 shares of company stock valued at $4,981,575 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Profile

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ: PANW) is a cybersecurity company founded in 2005 and headquartered in Santa Clara, California. The firm develops a broad suite of security products and services designed to prevent successful cyberattacks and protect enterprise networks, clouds, and endpoints. Built around a platform strategy, its offerings target threat prevention, detection, response and governance across hybrid and multi-cloud environments.

The company’s product portfolio includes next?generation firewalls as a core on?premises capability, alongside cloud?delivered security services and software for securing public and private clouds.