Fulton Bank N.A. Boosts Stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Fulton Bank N.A. raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 1.9% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 3,344 shares of the network technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 61 shares during the quarter. Fulton Bank N.A.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $1,134,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Beacon Pointe Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 31.4% in the 4th quarter. Beacon Pointe Advisors LLC now owns 112,040 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $33,038,000 after purchasing an additional 26,767 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 9.9% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 24,726 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $7,291,000 after purchasing an additional 2,225 shares in the last quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 91.0% in the 1st quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 1,683 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $478,000 after purchasing an additional 802 shares in the last quarter. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 46.4% during the 4th quarter. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group now owns 4,178 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,232,000 after acquiring an additional 1,325 shares in the last quarter. Finally, American National Bank raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 67.4% during the 4th quarter. American National Bank now owns 231 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $68,000 after acquiring an additional 93 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Daiwa America upgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 29th. Susquehanna lifted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $325.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 21st. KeyCorp cut their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $384.00 to $380.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $350.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Friday, June 21st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $365.00 to $360.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, May 21st. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and one has issued 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 price target of $325.59.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $323.41, for a total transaction of $64,682.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 24,782 shares in the company, valued at $8,014,746.62. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 200 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $323.41, for a total value of $64,682.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 24,782 shares in the company, valued at $8,014,746.62. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 66,668 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Monday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $336.54, for a total value of $22,436,448.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 694,228 shares in the company, valued at approximately $233,635,491.12. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 307,315 shares of company stock valued at $100,940,790. Corporate insiders own 3.30% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 2.6 %

NASDAQ PANW traded up $7.75 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $301.93. The stock had a trading volume of 3,216,819 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,434,475. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52-week low of $201.17 and a 52-week high of $380.84. The company has a market cap of $97.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.89, a P/E/G ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $321.19 and a 200 day simple moving average of $311.66.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 20th. The network technology company reported $1.32 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.25 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $1.98 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.97 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 32.74% and a net margin of 31.42%. Palo Alto Networks’s quarterly revenue was up 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.38 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.