First Financial Bankshares Inc Grows Stock Holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

First Financial Bankshares Inc increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 82.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 36,334 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 16,451 shares during the period. First Financial Bankshares Inc’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $6,611,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of PANW. Tradewinds LLC. lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 1.2% in the third quarter. Tradewinds LLC. now owns 2,315 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $791,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares during the period. First Dallas Securities Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. First Dallas Securities Inc. now owns 2,130 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $728,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. AMG National Trust Bank lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2.9% in the third quarter. AMG National Trust Bank now owns 1,220 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $417,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares during the period. RB Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 1.5% during the third quarter. RB Capital Management LLC now owns 2,492 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $852,000 after buying an additional 36 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Drive Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 4.3% during the third quarter. Drive Wealth Management LLC now owns 928 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $317,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $179.70, for a total transaction of $21,564,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 365,856 shares in the company, valued at $65,744,323.20. This trade represents a 24.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 235,492 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.32, for a total value of $43,170,393.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,086,404 shares in the company, valued at approximately $199,159,581.28. This trade represents a 17.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 1,122,864 shares of company stock worth $204,315,811. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on PANW shares. Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Tuesday. They set an “overweight” rating for the company. Northland Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating and set a $185.00 target price (up from $175.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $212.50 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, JMP Securities lifted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, twenty-eight have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $205.06.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 1.0 %

Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $183.10 on Wednesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $185.89 and a 200-day moving average of $184.98. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52-week low of $132.50 and a 52-week high of $208.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $121.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 103.16, a PEG ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.04.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $2.26 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.24 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 21.93% and a net margin of 14.64%. On average, research analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 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.