Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management Decreases Stock Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management trimmed its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 45.6% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 6,453 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 5,418 shares during the quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $1,903,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC raised its position in Palo Alto Networks by 23.1% during the third quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,336 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $313,000 after acquiring an additional 251 shares in the last quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.6% in the third quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd now owns 62,066 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $14,551,000 after purchasing an additional 1,003 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 4.1% in the third quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 534,297 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $125,120,000 after purchasing an additional 21,186 shares during the period. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 25.5% in the third quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 1,868 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $460,000 after purchasing an additional 380 shares during the period. Finally, Advisor Partners II LLC grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 3.6% in the third quarter. Advisor Partners II LLC now owns 4,830 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,132,000 after acquiring an additional 169 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on PANW shares. Westpark Capital reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Monday, January 29th. Northland Securities cut Palo Alto Networks from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and set a $275.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Thursday, January 18th. They issued an “outperform” rating for the company. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $330.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. Finally, Truist Financial increased their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $330.00 to $385.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $314.82.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 1.6 %

NASDAQ PANW traded up $4.95 on Tuesday, hitting $305.52. 4,603,981 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,257,741. The company has a market capitalization of $98.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.74, a P/E/G ratio of 4.03 and a beta of 1.18. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $285.75 and its 200-day moving average price is $294.47. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52-week low of $186.75 and a 52-week high of $380.84.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.58 by $0.22. The company had revenue of $1.98 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.97 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 36.58% and a net margin of 30.24%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Palo Alto Networks news, President William D. Jenkins, Jr. sold 1,867 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.13, for a total transaction of $523,002.71. Following the completion of the sale, the president now owns 25,812 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,230,715.56. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 36,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 1,295,567 shares in the company, valued at approximately $373,434,232.08. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, President William D. Jenkins, Jr. sold 1,867 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.13, for a total value of $523,002.71. Following the transaction, the president now owns 25,812 shares in the company, valued at $7,230,715.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 158,917 shares of company stock worth $44,335,843. 3.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

About Palo Alto Networks

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.