Citizens & Northern Corp Increases Stock Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Citizens & Northern Corp boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 111.3% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 11,619 shares of the network technology company’s stock after buying an additional 6,121 shares during the quarter. Citizens & Northern Corp’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $2,114,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Swedbank AB raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 19.7% during the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 786,574 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $268,851,000 after buying an additional 129,371 shares in the last quarter. Good Life Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 3rd quarter valued at about $253,000. Howard Capital Management Group LLC raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 106,248 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $36,316,000 after buying an additional 1,619 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 222.6% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,949 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,000,000 after buying an additional 2,035 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 5.5% during the 3rd quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,200 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,435,000 after buying an additional 220 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Loop Capital decreased their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $180.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Hsbc Global Res downgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Northland Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating and set a $185.00 price target (up from $175.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $225.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $192.50 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $202.70.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 99,707 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $182.45, for a total value of $18,191,542.15. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 358,197 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $65,353,042.65. This trade represents a 21.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 336,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $193.70, for a total transaction of $65,081,520.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,643,516 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $705,730,831.62. This represents a 8.44 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 1,458,864 shares of company stock valued at $269,397,331. Insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 1.5 %

NASDAQ:PANW opened at $205.19 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $187.11 and a 200 day moving average of $182.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $134.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 115.60, a PEG ratio of 5.70 and a beta of 1.14. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52 week low of $130.04 and a 52 week high of $208.39.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.75 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $2.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.24 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 14.64% and a return on equity of 21.93%. As a group, analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.75 EPS for the current 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.