Shum Financial Group Inc. Purchases Shares of 5,389 Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Shum Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 5,389 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,097,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Darwin Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter worth about $25,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 6,400.0% during the second quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 130 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 128 shares during the period. Briaud Financial Planning Inc bought a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the second quarter worth about $28,000. Howard Hughes Medical Institute acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Finally, MTM Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter worth $31,000. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PANW has been the topic of several analyst reports. Hsbc Global Res cut shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. TD Cowen lifted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $230.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $235.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, December 17th. Tigress Financial started coverage on Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Friday, September 26th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $245.00 price target for the company. Finally, Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $230.00 price objective (up previously from $225.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, November 20th. Thirty-one investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $226.20.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, Director James J. Goetz sold 12,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $195.33, for a total value of $2,441,625.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 75,184 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,685,690.72. This represents a 14.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $189.39, for a total transaction of $132,573.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 46,805 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,864,398.95. This trade represents a 1.47% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 381,222 shares of company stock valued at $78,762,727. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $186.85 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $130.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 118.26, a PEG ratio of 4.44 and a beta of 0.79. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12 month low of $144.15 and a 12 month high of $223.61. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $198.88 and its 200-day moving average is $196.89.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $2.47 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.46 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 17.05% and a net margin of 11.69%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 15.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.56 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.