Van Strum & Towne Inc. Makes New Investment in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Van Strum & Towne Inc. bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 11,819 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,407,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 2.0% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 64,016,374 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $13,100,311,000 after acquiring an additional 1,240,830 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,174,029 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $3,093,262,000 after acquiring an additional 169,055 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 7.7% in the 2nd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 5,295,588 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,083,689,000 after purchasing an additional 377,496 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,476,638 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $916,099,000 after purchasing an additional 54,601 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the second quarter worth about $675,865,000. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,768 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $191.03, for a total transaction of $23,070,311.04. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 298,887 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $57,096,383.61. The trade was a 28.78% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.81, for a total value of $147,848.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 46,005 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,502,184.05. This trade represents a 1.71% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 382,016 shares of company stock valued at $76,386,460 in the last quarter. 1.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently weighed in on PANW shares. DA Davidson set a $240.00 price objective on Palo Alto Networks in a report on Friday, December 19th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Monday, November 24th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $232.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 12th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $230.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. Finally, Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $225.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. Thirty-one equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $229.09.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 1.1%

PANW stock opened at $180.18 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $125.59 billion, a PE ratio of 114.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.34 and a beta of 0.76. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $188.56 and its 200 day simple moving average is $195.10. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $144.15 and a fifty-two week high of $223.61.

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

Palo Alto Networks Company 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.