Raymond James & Associates Has $175.03 Million Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Raymond James & Associates boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 3.0% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 616,018 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 17,936 shares during the quarter. Raymond James & Associates’ holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $175,029,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of PANW. GSG Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. GSG Advisors LLC now owns 5,160 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,478,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. Spirit of America Management Corp NY boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 50.0% during the fourth quarter. Spirit of America Management Corp NY now owns 300 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $88,000 after buying an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 46.4% in the 4th quarter. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group now owns 4,178 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,232,000 after buying an additional 1,325 shares during the period. Truist Financial Corp raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 148.9% in the 3rd quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 189,801 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $44,497,000 after buying an additional 113,534 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Treasurer of the State of North Carolina lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 137,104 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $32,143,000 after acquiring an additional 735 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of Palo Alto Networks stock traded up $2.63 during trading on Friday, hitting $291.42. 2,246,512 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,487,617. The firm has a market capitalization of $94.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.96 and a beta of 1.19. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $287.61 and its 200 day moving average price is $292.58. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1-year low of $176.30 and a 1-year high of $380.84.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.58 by $0.22. 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 net margin of 30.24% and a return on equity of 36.58%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently issued reports on PANW shares. Wedbush increased their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $350.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Redburn Atlantic raised their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $275.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $350.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. KeyCorp dropped their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $380.00 to $355.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $274.00 to $310.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $314.82.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $284.33, for a total value of $17,059,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 198,105 shares in the company, valued at $56,327,194.65. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 1,050 shares of the business’s 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,629,160. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $284.33, for a total value of $17,059,800.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 198,105 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $56,327,194.65. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 167,917 shares of company stock worth $49,395,553 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 3.30% of the company’s stock.

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.