National Pension Service Raises Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

National Pension Service grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,725,100 shares of the network technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 38,138 shares during the period. National Pension Service owned about 0.26% of Palo Alto Networks worth $351,265,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Darwin Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the second quarter worth approximately $25,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of 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 last quarter. Briaud Financial Planning Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter valued at $28,000. Howard Hughes Medical Institute acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter valued at $29,000. Finally, MTM Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter worth $31,000. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 0.4%

PANW opened at $176.97 on Friday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52 week low of $144.15 and a 52 week high of $223.61. The business’s 50 day moving average is $187.22 and its two-hundred day moving average is $194.58. The firm has a market cap of $123.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 112.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.20 and a beta of 0.76.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 155,119 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,190,293.42. This represents a 3.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director James J. Goetz sold 12,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 8th. The stock was 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 position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 382,016 shares of company stock valued at $76,386,460 over the last ninety days. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on PANW. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Monday, December 29th. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $265.00 price objective (up previously from $230.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Monday, January 5th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 target price (up previously from $235.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Tuesday, November 11th. TD Cowen upped their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $230.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 13th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 17th. Thirty-one analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $229.09.

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.