Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW Shares Bought by Purkiss Capital Advisors LLC

Purkiss Capital Advisors LLC grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 36.8% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 12,598 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,390 shares during the period. Palo Alto Networks makes up approximately 1.2% of Purkiss Capital Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 16th biggest holding. Purkiss Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $2,565,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of PANW. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter valued at $675,865,000. ABN AMRO Bank N.V. purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter valued at about $340,883,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2.0% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 64,016,374 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $13,100,311,000 after acquiring an additional 1,240,830 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 97.9% during the second quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 2,104,939 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $430,755,000 after acquiring an additional 1,041,145 shares during the period. Finally, Swedbank AB raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 30.6% during the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 2,392,224 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $487,105,000 after purchasing an additional 560,540 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

PANW opened at $180.18 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $125.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 114.04, a PEG ratio of 4.29 and a beta of 0.76. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a one year low of $144.15 and a one year high of $223.61. The business’s fifty day moving average is $188.56 and its two-hundred day moving average is $194.96.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 analysts’ expectations of $2.46 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.56 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 800 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.81, for a total transaction of $147,848.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 46,005 shares in the company, valued at $8,502,184.05. The trade was a 1.71% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director James J. Goetz sold 12,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the sale, the director directly owned 75,184 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,685,690.72. The trade was a 14.26% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders have sold 382,016 shares of company stock worth $76,386,460. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on PANW. 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. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $230.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. Bank of America upped their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $215.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 20th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $207.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $229.09.

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.