Westover Capital Advisors LLC Purchases 4,837 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Westover Capital Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 98.7% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 9,736 shares of the network technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,837 shares during the period. Westover Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $1,772,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Exencial Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 56.4% during the 4th quarter. Exencial Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 6,485 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,180,000 after purchasing an additional 2,338 shares in the last quarter. AMJ Financial Wealth Management boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 161.4% during the fourth quarter. AMJ Financial Wealth Management now owns 45,023 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $8,192,000 after purchasing an additional 27,799 shares during the last quarter. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 40.2% in the fourth quarter. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI now owns 360,771 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $65,646,000 after purchasing an additional 103,458 shares in the last quarter. Patten Group Inc. lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 136.5% during the 4th quarter. Patten Group Inc. now owns 7,262 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,321,000 after buying an additional 4,192 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bahl & Gaynor Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the fourth quarter valued at about $348,000. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 99,707 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $182.45, for a total transaction of $18,191,542.15. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 358,197 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $65,353,042.65. This trade represents a 21.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were 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 $8,694,210.72. The trade was a 1.44 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 1,122,864 shares of company stock valued at $204,315,811. Insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have issued reports on PANW shares. Needham & Company LLC upped their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $192.50 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. StockNews.com cut shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 24th. Rosenblatt Securities upped their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $212.50 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $165.00 to $192.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Truist Financial upped their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $212.50 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, twenty-eight have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $205.06.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PANW opened at $183.68 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $121.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 103.48, a PEG ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.14. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $186.55 and a 200 day simple moving average of $184.63. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a one year low of $132.50 and a one year high of $208.39.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $2.26 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.24 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 14.64% and a return on equity of 21.93%. As a group, analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current 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.