HM Payson & Co. Acquires 5,734 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

HM Payson & Co. raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 99.9% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 11,474 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,734 shares during the quarter. HM Payson & Co.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $2,088,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of PANW. Jennison Associates LLC raised its position in Palo Alto Networks by 83.0% in the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 5,759,689 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,048,033,000 after purchasing an additional 2,612,474 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Palo Alto Networks by 109.6% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,202,926 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $764,764,000 after purchasing an additional 2,197,765 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the 4th quarter valued at $388,155,000. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its position in Palo Alto Networks by 199.1% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,822,336 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $333,925,000 after purchasing an additional 1,213,073 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 107.8% during the fourth quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 1,634,701 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $297,450,000 after acquiring an additional 848,127 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.22, for a total transaction of $126,854.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 47,976 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,694,210.72. This represents a 1.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 490,723 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $182.45, for a total value of $89,532,411.35. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,086,404 shares in the company, valued at $198,214,409.80. The trade was a 31.11 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 1,122,864 shares of company stock worth $204,315,811 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PANW has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $225.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Truist Financial boosted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $212.50 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. KeyCorp boosted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $217.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. TD Cowen boosted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities boosted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $212.50 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, twenty-eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $205.06.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $180.93 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $119.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 101.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.04. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $186.05 and its 200-day moving average is $184.78. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a one year low of $132.50 and a one year high of $208.39.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.75 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $2.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.24 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 21.93% and a net margin of 14.64%. On average, equities analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.

About Palo Alto Networks

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.