Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) Holdings Boosted by Evergreen Capital Management LLC

Evergreen Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 99.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 65,086 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 32,413 shares during the quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $11,843,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 97.2% during the fourth quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 140 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 69 shares during the period. Rakuten Securities Inc. boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 8.4% during the 4th quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 906 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $165,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares during the period. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 70.3% in the 4th quarter. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC now owns 172 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 71 shares during the last quarter. Abound Wealth Management increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 97.3% in the fourth quarter. Abound Wealth Management now owns 146 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 72 shares during the period. Finally, Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 100.0% during the fourth quarter. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. now owns 150 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 490,723 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $182.45, for a total value of $89,532,411.35. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,086,404 shares in the company, valued at $198,214,409.80. This trade represents a 31.11 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.22, for a total transaction of $126,854.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 47,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,694,210.72. This represents a 1.44 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 1,039,318 shares of company stock valued at $181,925,602 over the last quarter. Insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

NASDAQ:PANW opened at $173.55 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $114.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 97.78, a P/E/G ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.07. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $181.67 and its 200 day moving average price is $184.84. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52 week low of $135.18 and a 52 week high of $208.39.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.06. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 14.64% and a return on equity of 21.93%. The company had revenue of $2.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.24 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on PANW. Loop Capital lowered their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $180.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Truist Financial lowered their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $213.00 to $205.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 31st. JMP Securities upped their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “buy” rating and set a $235.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Monday, March 31st. Finally, Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “moderate sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating, twenty-eight have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $204.52.

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.