20,760 Shares in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW Purchased by MFA Wealth Advisors LLC

MFA Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 20,760 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,227,000. Palo Alto Networks comprises about 0.9% of MFA Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 29th biggest holding.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of PANW. Darwin Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter valued at about $25,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 6,400.0% in the 2nd quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 130 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 128 shares during the period. Briaud Financial Planning Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter valued at $28,000. Howard Hughes Medical Institute bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter worth $29,000. Finally, MTM Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $31,000. 79.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PANW has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $232.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 12th. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $220.00 price target (down previously from $230.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $235.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, December 17th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, November 17th. Finally, Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $230.00 price objective (up from $225.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. Thirty-one research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $226.20.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PANW opened at $186.85 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $130.23 billion, a PE ratio of 118.26, a PEG ratio of 4.44 and a beta of 0.79. The company’s fifty day moving average is $198.88 and its 200 day moving average is $196.89. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52 week low of $144.15 and a 52 week high of $223.61.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted 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. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 11.69% and a return on equity of 17.05%. The business had revenue of $2.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.46 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.56 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 15.7% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $188.18, for a total transaction of $940,900.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 155,119 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,190,293.42. The trade was a 3.12% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $191.91, for a total transaction of $23,177,738.34. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 327,645 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $62,878,351.95. This trade represents a 26.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 381,222 shares of company stock worth $78,762,727. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.