Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. Buys 5,652 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 89.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 11,965 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,652 shares during the quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $3,529,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in PANW. Webster Bank N. A. increased its position in Palo Alto Networks by 607.1% during the 4th quarter. Webster Bank N. A. now owns 99 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 85 shares during the period. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC increased its position in Palo Alto Networks by 87.0% during the 4th quarter. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC now owns 101 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 47 shares during the period. Byrne Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 277.8% during the 3rd quarter. Byrne Asset Management LLC now owns 136 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the period. MV Capital Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 37.2% during the 4th quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. now owns 107 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 29 shares during the period. Finally, Alaska Permanent Fund Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 4th quarter worth approximately $42,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of PANW stock traded up $0.89 during trading on Friday, hitting $296.21. The company had a trading volume of 3,438,974 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,429,938. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $285.70 and its two-hundred day moving average is $293.01. The stock has a market capitalization of $95.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.01 and a beta of 1.18. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52 week low of $177.09 and a 52 week high of $380.84.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.58 by $0.22. The company had revenue of $1.98 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.97 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 30.24% and a return on equity of 36.58%. On average, research analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, President William D. Jenkins, Jr. sold 1,867 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.13, for a total transaction of $523,002.71. Following the transaction, the president now directly owns 25,812 shares in the company, valued at $7,230,715.56. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, President William D. Jenkins, Jr. sold 1,867 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.13, for a total value of $523,002.71. Following the transaction, the president now owns 25,812 shares in the company, valued at $7,230,715.56. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 36,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $288.24, for a total transaction of $10,376,640.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 1,295,567 shares in the company, valued at approximately $373,434,232.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 158,917 shares of company stock worth $44,335,843 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 3.30% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. Scotiabank reduced their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $363.00 to $337.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. Piper Sandler downgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $350.00 to $300.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. Redburn Atlantic raised their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $275.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. Northland Securities downgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and set a $275.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $378.00 to $327.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target 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.