Meridian Wealth Management LLC Raises Stock Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Meridian Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 7.6% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 35,485 shares of the network technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,512 shares during the period. Meridian Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $6,536,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 4.1% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 67,929,063 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $12,512,533,000 after buying an additional 2,659,100 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 29,736,916 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $6,055,031,000 after buying an additional 505,924 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,528,248 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,532,902,000 after buying an additional 36,511 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 11.5% during the 3rd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 5,906,963 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,202,776,000 after acquiring an additional 611,375 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pictet Asset Management Holding SA boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 7.9% in the 4th quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 4,356,617 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $802,691,000 after acquiring an additional 319,751 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 2.8%

Shares of NASDAQ PANW opened at $213.66 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $168.60 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $180.57. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52-week low of $139.57 and a 52-week high of $223.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $174.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 118.04, a PEG ratio of 7.49 and a beta of 0.77.

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

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.42, for a total value of $802,100.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 150,250 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,103,105. This trade represents a 3.22% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director John P. Key sold 1,572 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.32, for a total transaction of $272,459.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 20,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,466,400. This trade represents a 7.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 30,356 shares of company stock valued at $4,981,575 over the last quarter. Insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, February 4th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $185.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Scotiabank reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $240.00 to $220.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-six have assigned a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $212.09.

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.