BKA Wealth Consulting Inc. Makes New Investment in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

BKA Wealth Consulting Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 2,291 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $450,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in PANW. American National Bank increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 600.0% during the first quarter. American National Bank now owns 126 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 108 shares during the last quarter. Dark Forest Capital Management LP increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2,950.0% during the fourth quarter. Dark Forest Capital Management LP now owns 183 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 177 shares during the last quarter. Grey Fox Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 205.3% during the fourth quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. now owns 63,353 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 42,600 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Worth Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the first quarter valued at about $26,000. 85.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, President William D. Jenkins, Jr. sold 2,040 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $245.01, for a total transaction of $499,820.40. Following the transaction, the president now owns 37,352 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,151,613.52. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Palo Alto Networks news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 250 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $255.10, for a total value of $63,775.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 28,302 shares in the company, valued at $7,219,840.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, President William D. Jenkins, Jr. sold 2,040 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $245.01, for a total value of $499,820.40. Following the completion of the sale, the president now owns 37,352 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,151,613.52. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 167,586 shares of company stock valued at $40,140,271. 3.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on PANW. Westpark Capital began coverage on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, August 30th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $340.00 price objective for the company. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $270.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 21st. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 21st. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $302.00 to $304.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 21st. Finally, Wolfe Research lifted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $210.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 24th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $264.71.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of PANW traded up $0.78 on Wednesday, reaching $246.51. 732,355 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,902,365. The firm has a market cap of $76.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 195.16, a P/E/G ratio of 3.52 and a beta of 1.19. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12 month low of $132.22 and a 12 month high of $258.88. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $236.88 and its 200-day moving average price is $216.55.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 18th. The network technology company reported $1.44 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.29 by $0.15. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 51.13% and a net margin of 6.38%. The firm had revenue of $1.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.96 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.15 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 26.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.