Park National Corp OH Purchases 22,919 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Park National Corp OH grew its position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 12.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 208,583 shares of the network technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 22,919 shares during the period. Palo Alto Networks comprises about 1.2% of Park National Corp OH’s portfolio, making the stock its 23rd largest holding. Park National Corp OH’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $38,421,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Klingman & Associates LLC lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. Klingman & Associates LLC now owns 2,131 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $434,000 after purchasing an additional 46 shares during the last quarter. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 1.8% during the third quarter. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,742 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $558,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the period. Mattern Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Palo Alto Networks by 2.9% during the third quarter. Mattern Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,692 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $345,000 after buying an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. PTM Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Palo Alto Networks by 4.0% during the third quarter. PTM Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,300 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $276,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arlington Trust Co LLC raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 4.8% in the third quarter. Arlington Trust Co LLC now owns 1,088 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $222,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

PANW opened at $169.74 on Friday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $168.30 and a 200 day simple moving average of $188.93. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1 year low of $139.57 and a 1 year high of $223.61. The company has a market capitalization of $138.51 billion, a PE ratio of 93.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.10 and a beta of 0.78.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 18th. The network technology company reported $1.03 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.94 by $0.09. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 17.60% and a net margin of 12.96%.The firm had revenue of $2.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.58 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.81 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 14.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently commented on PANW. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $223.00 target price (down from $245.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Robert W. Baird set a $220.00 price target on Palo Alto Networks and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $265.00 price objective (up from $230.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Monday, January 5th. UBS Group set a $183.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, February 19th. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group dropped their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $212.00 to $175.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 24th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have issued a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $210.19.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,768 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $191.03, for a total transaction of $23,070,311.04. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 298,887 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $57,096,383.61. This trade represents a 28.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $188.18, for a total transaction of $940,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 155,119 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,190,293.42. This trade represents a 3.12% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 149,252 shares of company stock valued at $27,888,535 in the last three months. 1.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About Palo Alto Networks

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.