Atria Investments Inc Grows Stock Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Atria Investments Inc raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 98.5% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 60,312 shares of the network technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 29,932 shares during the quarter. Atria Investments Inc’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $10,974,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the third quarter valued at about $29,000. True Wealth Design LLC raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 2,933.3% in the third quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 91 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 88 shares during the last quarter. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the third quarter worth about $32,000. Darwin Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the third quarter worth about $39,000. Finally, SJS Investment Consulting Inc. raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 97.2% in the fourth quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 140 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 69 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Palo Alto Networks news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 235,492 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Friday, January 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.32, for a total value of $43,170,393.44. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,086,404 shares in the company, valued at $199,159,581.28. The trade was a 17.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.22, for a total value of $126,854.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 47,976 shares in the company, valued at $8,694,210.72. This represents a 1.44 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 1,122,864 shares of company stock worth $204,315,811. 2.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

NASDAQ PANW opened at $184.28 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $122.01 billion, a PE ratio of 103.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.14. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $186.34 and its 200-day simple moving average is $184.74. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1-year low of $132.50 and a 1-year high of $208.39.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on PANW shares. Westpark Capital restated a “hold” rating and issued a $196.40 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $165.00 to $192.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $225.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. UBS Group raised their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Finally, TD Cowen raised their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $205.06.

Palo Alto Networks 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.