Oak Thistle LLC Buys Shares of 8,437 Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Oak Thistle LLC acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 8,437 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,554,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. AK Global Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,626,000. BIP Wealth LLC raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 184.3% during the 4th quarter. BIP Wealth LLC now owns 9,585 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,765,000 after purchasing an additional 6,214 shares in the last quarter. Jefferson Bridge Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,906,000. Snider Financial Group raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 5.3% during the 4th quarter. Snider Financial Group now owns 23,377 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $4,306,000 after purchasing an additional 1,169 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kentucky Trust Co bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 4th quarter worth approximately $37,000. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 2.3%

PANW stock opened at $173.78 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $141.80 billion, a PE ratio of 96.01, a PEG ratio of 5.89 and a beta of 0.77. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1-year low of $139.57 and a 1-year high of $223.61. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $161.22 and its 200 day simple moving average is $185.23.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 18th. The network technology company reported $1.03 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.94 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $2.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.58 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 17.60% and a net margin of 12.96%.The firm’s revenue was up 14.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.81 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 1,100 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $161.40, for a total transaction of $177,540.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 83,136 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,418,150.40. The trade was a 1.31% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director James J. Goetz sold 22,684 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $164.41, for a total value of $3,729,476.44. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 52,500 shares in the company, valued at $8,631,525. The trade was a 30.17% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 28,784 shares of company stock valued at $4,709,116 over the last 90 days. 1.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PANW has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Argus upgraded Palo Alto Networks to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 20th. TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. New Street Research dropped their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $240.00 to $220.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Arete Research upgraded Palo Alto Networks from a “sell” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $185.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 3rd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on 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. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-five have assigned a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $209.95.

Palo Alto Networks Company 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.