Trust Co. of Vermont Has $34.13 Million Stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Trust Co. of Vermont raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 4.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 185,267 shares of the network technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,909 shares during the quarter. Palo Alto Networks makes up approximately 1.4% of Trust Co. of Vermont’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest position. Trust Co. of Vermont’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $34,126,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Palo Alto Networks by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 65,269,963 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $13,290,270,000 after purchasing an additional 1,253,589 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 1.7% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 29,736,916 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $6,055,031,000 after buying an additional 505,924 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 0.5% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,528,248 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,532,902,000 after buying an additional 36,511 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 11.5% during the third quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 5,906,963 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,202,776,000 after buying an additional 611,375 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 0.4% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 4,037,320 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $822,079,000 after buying an additional 17,394 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Nikesh Arora purchased 68,085 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 27th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $146.87 per share, for a total transaction of $9,999,643.95. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer owned 343,394 shares in the company, valued at $50,434,276.78. This trade represents a 24.73% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,768 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $191.03, for a total transaction of $23,070,311.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 298,887 shares in the company, valued at $57,096,383.61. This trade represents a 28.78% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 144,252 shares of company stock valued at $26,947,635. Insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on PANW shares. Mizuho set a $200.00 price objective on Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Susquehanna lowered their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $230.00 to $200.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $230.00 to $200.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $223.00 price target (down from $245.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $240.00 to $220.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-five have issued a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $209.95.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 0.2%

Shares of NASDAQ:PANW opened at $160.67 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $131.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 88.77, a P/E/G ratio of 5.78 and a beta of 0.77. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12-month low of $139.57 and a 12-month high of $223.61. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $162.85 and a 200 day simple moving average of $186.54.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 18th. The network technology company reported $1.03 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.94 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $2.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.58 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 17.60% and a net margin of 12.96%.The business’s revenue was up 14.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.81 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.

Palo Alto Networks 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.