Heartland Bank & Trust Co Sells 1,556 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Heartland Bank & Trust Co trimmed its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 40.8% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 2,261 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 1,556 shares during the quarter. Heartland Bank & Trust Co’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $767,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sunbelt Securities Inc. increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 91.0% during the first quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 1,683 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $478,000 after purchasing an additional 802 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 7.6% in the 1st quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,814,881 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $799,792,000 after buying an additional 198,078 shares during the period. Brookstone Capital Management raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 48.4% in the 1st quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 26,404 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $7,502,000 after buying an additional 8,611 shares in the last quarter. Wealthspire Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.7% during the 1st quarter. Wealthspire Advisors LLC now owns 4,377 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,244,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares during the period. Finally, Connectus Wealth LLC boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 22.8% during the 4th quarter. Connectus Wealth LLC now owns 43,813 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $12,920,000 after acquiring an additional 8,132 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on PANW shares. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $364.00 to $399.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Scotiabank upped their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $334.00 to $390.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $350.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $369.26.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

PANW opened at $341.80 on Tuesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $337.28 and its two-hundred day moving average is $315.91. The firm has a market cap of $110.67 billion, a PE ratio of 49.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.98 and a beta of 1.13. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a twelve month low of $230.09 and a twelve month high of $380.84.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its earnings results on Monday, August 19th. The network technology company reported $1.51 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.41 by $0.10. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 26.83% and a net margin of 32.11%. The firm had revenue of $2.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.16 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.80 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 3.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $323.41, for a total transaction of $64,682.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 24,782 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,014,746.62. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $323.41, for a total transaction of $64,682.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 24,782 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,014,746.62. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 125,866 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $335.00, for a total value of $42,165,110.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 166,542 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $55,791,570. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 359,732 shares of company stock worth $118,815,557. 3.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Company 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.