Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) is Motley Fool Wealth Management LLC’s 2nd Largest Position

Motley Fool Wealth Management LLC cut its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 3.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 302,461 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 10,760 shares during the quarter. Palo Alto Networks accounts for 4.7% of Motley Fool Wealth Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest position. Motley Fool Wealth Management LLC owned about 0.10% of Palo Alto Networks worth $88,822,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in PANW. Capital Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 13.7% in the 3rd quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,635 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $383,000 after purchasing an additional 197 shares during the period. Impact Partnership Wealth LLC increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 18,500.0% in the third quarter. Impact Partnership Wealth LLC now owns 186 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $44,000 after buying an additional 185 shares during the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 62.4% in the third quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 7,230 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,695,000 after buying an additional 2,779 shares during the last quarter. Caprock Group LLC increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 59.2% in the third quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 3,469 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $813,000 after buying an additional 1,290 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Galvin Gaustad & Stein LLC increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 11.5% in the third quarter. Galvin Gaustad & Stein LLC now owns 1,459 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $342,000 after buying an additional 150 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PANW traded up $2.63 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $291.42. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,246,512 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,487,617. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $176.30 and a fifty-two week high of $380.84. The company has a market capitalization of $94.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.53, a P/E/G ratio of 3.96 and a beta of 1.19. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $287.61 and its 200-day simple moving average is $292.35.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by $0.22. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 36.58% and a net margin of 30.24%. The company had revenue of $1.98 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.97 billion. On average, analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 1,050 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.00, for a total value of $294,000.00. Following the completion of 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 filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 1,050 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.00, for a total value of $294,000.00. Following the completion of 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 filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 45,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $343.03, for a total value of $15,436,350.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 198,105 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $67,955,958.15. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 167,917 shares of company stock worth $49,395,553 over the last three months. 3.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently commented on PANW. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $345.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Mizuho dropped their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $405.00 to $350.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Citigroup increased their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $280.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 10th. Westpark Capital reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Monday, January 29th. Finally, Truist Financial increased their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $330.00 to $385.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 20th. 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, Palo Alto Networks has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $314.82.

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.