Procyon Advisors LLC Boosts Stock Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Procyon Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 35.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 38,684 shares of the network technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 10,190 shares during the period. Procyon Advisors LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $7,126,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. New England Research & Management Inc. grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 16.4% in the 4th quarter. New England Research & Management Inc. now owns 12,654 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $2,331,000 after acquiring an additional 1,784 shares in the last quarter. Magnus Financial Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 5.6% during the fourth quarter. Magnus Financial Group LLC now owns 27,143 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $5,000,000 after purchasing an additional 1,440 shares in the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 261.3% during the fourth quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 66,395 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $12,230,000 after purchasing an additional 48,018 shares in the last quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 4.1% in the fourth quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC now owns 7,437 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,370,000 after purchasing an additional 296 shares during the period. Finally, CWA Asset Management Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 9,812 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,807,000 after purchasing an additional 190 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PANW opened at $162.95 on Friday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12 month low of $139.57 and a 12 month high of $223.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $132.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 90.03, a P/E/G ratio of 5.88 and a beta of 0.78. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $167.77 and its 200 day moving average price is $188.72.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 18th. The network technology company reported $1.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.94 by $0.09. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 12.96% and a return on equity of 17.60%. The company had revenue of $2.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.58 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.81 earnings per share. Palo Alto Networks’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on PANW. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $240.00 to $220.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. DA Davidson set a $190.00 price objective on Palo Alto Networks and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. BTIG Research reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $200.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Finally, Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $225.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have issued a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $210.19.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,768 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $191.03, for a total value of $23,070,311.04. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 298,887 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $57,096,383.61. This represents a 28.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director James J. Goetz sold 22,684 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $164.41, for a total transaction of $3,729,476.44. Following the transaction, the director owned 52,500 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,631,525. This trade represents a 30.17% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 149,252 shares of company stock worth $27,888,535 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

About Palo Alto Networks

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.