Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. Sells 4,931 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 16.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 25,159 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 4,931 shares during the quarter. Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $5,123,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 147.7% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,761 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,230,000 after purchasing an additional 4,031 shares in the last quarter. Bison Wealth LLC increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 169.1% in the 4th quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 5,212 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $948,000 after buying an additional 3,275 shares during the last quarter. Ascent Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 64.5% during the 1st quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 4,105 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $700,000 after buying an additional 1,609 shares in the last quarter. MBB Public Markets I LLC purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 1st quarter worth approximately $282,000. Finally, Advisory Alpha LLC boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 22.0% in the 1st quarter. Advisory Alpha LLC now owns 2,259 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $385,000 after buying an additional 407 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 1.6%

NASDAQ PANW opened at $190.80 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $132.99 billion, a PE ratio of 120.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.62 and a beta of 0.76. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52 week low of $144.15 and a 52 week high of $223.61. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $194.46 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $196.25.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $2.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.46 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 11.69% and a return on equity of 17.05%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 15.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.56 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PANW has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Northland Securities increased their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $177.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. Rosenblatt Securities upped their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 18th. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $245.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. Wolfe Research boosted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, December 15th. Finally, Tigress Financial began coverage on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Friday, September 26th. They set a “buy” rating and a $245.00 price objective for the company. Thirty-one research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $227.99.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $188.18, for a total value of $940,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 155,119 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,190,293.42. The trade was a 3.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director James J. Goetz sold 12,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $195.33, for a total value of $2,441,625.00. Following the sale, the director owned 75,184 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,685,690.72. The trade was a 14.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 261,248 shares of company stock worth $53,316,149. 1.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Company Profile

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ: PANW) is a cybersecurity company founded in 2005 and headquartered in Santa Clara, California. The firm develops a broad suite of security products and services designed to prevent successful cyberattacks and protect enterprise networks, clouds, and endpoints. Built around a platform strategy, its offerings target threat prevention, detection, response and governance across hybrid and multi-cloud environments.

The company’s product portfolio includes next‑generation firewalls as a core on‑premises capability, alongside cloud‑delivered security services and software for securing public and private clouds.