Lighthouse Financial Services Inc. ADV Acquires Shares of 15,792 Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Lighthouse Financial Services Inc. ADV acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 15,792 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,909,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PANW. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 147.7% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,761 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,230,000 after purchasing an additional 4,031 shares in the last quarter. Bison Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 169.1% in the 4th quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 5,212 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $948,000 after purchasing an additional 3,275 shares in the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 66.3% in the 2nd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 3,484 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $713,000 after purchasing an additional 1,389 shares in the last quarter. Osterweis Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 11,100.0% in the 2nd quarter. Osterweis Capital Management Inc. now owns 560 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $115,000 after purchasing an additional 555 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Main Street Financial Solutions LLC raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 6.0% during the 2nd quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC now owns 4,398 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $900,000 after acquiring an additional 249 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 5.8%

Shares of NASDAQ:PANW opened at $207.88 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $166.05 and a 200 day moving average price of $180.61. The company has a market capitalization of $169.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 114.85, a PEG ratio of 7.09 and a beta of 0.77. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12-month low of $139.57 and a 12-month high of $223.61.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 18th. The network technology company reported $1.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.94 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $2.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.58 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 17.60% and a net margin of 12.96%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 14.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.81 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $240.00 to $224.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Mizuho set a $200.00 price target on Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. UBS Group set a $183.00 price target on Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, February 19th. Susquehanna reduced their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $230.00 to $200.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Finally, Berenberg Bank set a $215.00 price target on Palo Alto Networks and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-six have given a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $211.64.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 1,100 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owned 83,136 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,418,150.40. This trade represents a 1.31% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed 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 dated Friday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $164.41, for a total value of $3,729,476.44. Following the sale, the director directly owned 52,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,631,525. The trade was a 30.17% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 30,356 shares of company stock worth $4,981,575. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Company 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.