Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) Shares Bought by Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd

Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 28.0% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 5,543 shares of the network technology company’s stock after buying an additional 1,212 shares during the quarter. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $1,630,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. First Pacific Financial raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 421.7% during the third quarter. First Pacific Financial now owns 120 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 97 shares during the last quarter. Webster Bank N. A. raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 607.1% during the fourth quarter. Webster Bank N. A. now owns 99 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 85 shares during the last quarter. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 87.0% during the fourth quarter. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC now owns 101 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 47 shares during the last quarter. Byrne Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 277.8% during the third quarter. Byrne Asset Management LLC now owns 136 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MV Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 37.2% during the fourth quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. now owns 107 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PANW has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Truist Financial boosted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $330.00 to $385.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 20th. Scotiabank dropped their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $363.00 to $337.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Citigroup boosted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $280.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $274.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Finally, Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $345.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $314.82.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 1,050 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.00, for a total transaction of $294,000.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 27,247 shares in the company, valued at $7,629,160. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Palo Alto Networks news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 1,050 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.00, for a total value of $294,000.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 27,247 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,629,160. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Friday, April 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $268.04, for a total transaction of $16,082,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 174,075 shares in the company, valued at $46,659,063. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 167,917 shares of company stock worth $49,395,553 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 3.30% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 4.2 %

PANW stock traded up $11.81 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $293.49. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 4,060,803 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,531,698. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $292.16 and its 200-day simple moving average is $291.84. The stock has a market cap of $94.83 billion, a PE ratio of 45.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.19. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52 week low of $176.30 and a 52 week high of $380.84.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by $0.22. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 30.24% and a return on equity of 36.58%. The company had revenue of $1.98 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.97 billion. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Palo Alto Networks 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.