Andrew Hill Investment Advisors Inc. Makes New Investment in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Andrew Hill Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 13,186 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,888,000. Palo Alto Networks makes up 4.1% of Andrew Hill Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 5th biggest position.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Worth Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the first quarter valued at $26,000. Covestor Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 61.8% during the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 55 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 21 shares during the last quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1,071.4% during the second quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. now owns 82 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Webster Bank N. A. boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 607.1% during the fourth quarter. Webster Bank N. A. now owns 99 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 85 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 87.0% during the fourth quarter. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC now owns 101 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 47 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 45,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $343.03, for a total transaction of $15,436,350.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 198,105 shares in the company, valued at approximately $67,955,958.15. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 1,050 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.00, for a total value of $294,000.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 27,247 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,629,160. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 45,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $343.03, for a total value of $15,436,350.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 198,105 shares in the company, valued at approximately $67,955,958.15. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 167,917 shares of company stock worth $49,395,553. 3.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

NASDAQ:PANW traded down $2.87 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $278.27. 2,396,853 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,552,757. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a twelve month low of $176.30 and a twelve month high of $380.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $89.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.78 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $297.44 and a 200 day moving average price of $290.12.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by $0.22. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 36.58% and a net margin of 30.24%. The company had revenue of $1.98 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.97 billion. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently commented on PANW shares. Capital One Financial lowered Palo Alto Networks from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $302.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Truist Financial increased their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $330.00 to $385.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. Wedbush raised their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $350.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Oppenheimer raised their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $305.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities lowered Palo Alto Networks from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $290.00 to $265.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $314.82.

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.