CENTRAL TRUST Co Acquires 579 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

CENTRAL TRUST Co increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 4.7% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 12,878 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 579 shares during the period. CENTRAL TRUST Co’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $3,659,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 3,200.0% in the 1st quarter. Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 99 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 96 shares during the last quarter. Webster Bank N. A. raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 607.1% during the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 87.0% in the 4th quarter. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC now owns 101 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 47 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Central Bank & Trust Co. increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 89.3% during the first quarter. Central Bank & Trust Co. now owns 106 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PANW has been the topic of several analyst reports. Rosenblatt Securities downgraded Palo Alto Networks from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the company from $290.00 to $265.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. Evercore ISI lowered their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $405.00 to $385.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, May 14th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $327.00 to $334.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday. Susquehanna raised their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $325.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, KeyCorp upped their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $355.00 to $384.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 16th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $317.45.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 121,276 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $299.60, for a total value of $36,334,289.60. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 166,542 shares in the company, valued at approximately $49,895,983.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 121,276 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $299.60, for a total transaction of $36,334,289.60. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 166,542 shares in the company, valued at $49,895,983.20. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 36,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $288.24, for a total transaction of $10,376,640.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 1,295,567 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $373,434,232.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 280,193 shares of company stock worth $80,670,132. Corporate insiders own 3.30% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PANW traded down $3.08 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $308.58. 4,526,112 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,180,038. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $289.10 and its 200-day simple moving average is $299.07. The company has a market cap of $99.70 billion, a PE ratio of 44.85, a P/E/G ratio of 4.40 and a beta of 1.18. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a twelve month low of $188.83 and a twelve month high of $380.84.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its earnings results on Monday, May 20th. The network technology company reported $1.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.25 by $0.07. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 31.42% and a return on equity of 37.81%. The business had revenue of $1.98 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.97 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.38 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.77 EPS 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.