First Financial Bankshares Inc Raises Stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

First Financial Bankshares Inc lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 19,883 shares of the network technology company’s stock after buying an additional 247 shares during the quarter. First Financial Bankshares Inc’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $6,796,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Riggs Asset Managment Co. Inc. raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 1.0% during the third quarter. Riggs Asset Managment Co. Inc. now owns 18,249 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $6,238,000 after purchasing an additional 189 shares during the period. State of Alaska Department of Revenue raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 7.1% during the 3rd quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 37,615 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $12,856,000 after buying an additional 2,480 shares during the period. Financial Management Professionals Inc. lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 5.2% in the third quarter. Financial Management Professionals Inc. now owns 694 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $237,000 after acquiring an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 113.9% in the third quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 77 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 41 shares during the period. Finally, Goldstein Advisors LLC increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 5.6% during the third quarter. Goldstein Advisors LLC now owns 1,354 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $463,000 after acquiring an additional 72 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have weighed in on the stock. KeyCorp increased their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $400.00 to $435.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Westpark Capital reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. BTIG Research boosted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $366.00 to $395.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Piper Sandler raised their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $300.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $416.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $376.82.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 81,586 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $367.99, for a total transaction of $30,022,832.14. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 618,715 shares in the company, valued at approximately $227,680,932.85. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Palo Alto Networks news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 200 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $323.41, for a total transaction of $64,682.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 24,782 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,014,746.62. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 81,586 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $367.99, for a total value of $30,022,832.14. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 618,715 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $227,680,932.85. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 351,452 shares of company stock valued at $118,643,279 in the last 90 days. 3.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $366.44 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $118.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 53.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.45 and a beta of 1.13. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a one year low of $233.81 and a one year high of $384.00. The business has a fifty day moving average of $351.91 and a two-hundred day moving average of $326.78.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 19th. The network technology company reported $1.51 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.41 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $2.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.16 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 26.83% and a net margin of 32.11%. The company’s revenue was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.80 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 3.57 EPS for the current 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.