NewEdge Advisors LLC Has $23.31 Million Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

NewEdge Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 12.5% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 113,885 shares of the network technology company’s stock after buying an additional 12,677 shares during the quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $23,305,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position 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 worth $13,100,311,000 after purchasing an additional 1,240,830 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,174,029 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $3,093,262,000 after purchasing an additional 169,055 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 16.0% in the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 6,902,048 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,177,765,000 after buying an additional 950,765 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP raised its holdings 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 buying an additional 377,496 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.2% during the 2nd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,476,638 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $916,099,000 after buying an additional 54,601 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 846,408 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $204.06, for a total transaction of $172,718,016.48. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 275,013 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $56,119,152.78. This trade represents a 75.48% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 in the company, valued at approximately $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. Insiders sold a total of 1,228,330 shares of company stock worth $251,702,305 over the last quarter. Insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have weighed in on PANW shares. Tigress Financial assumed coverage on Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Friday, September 26th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $245.00 price target on the stock. Mizuho upped their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, November 17th. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $230.00 price target (up from $225.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, November 20th. HSBC cut shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating and set a $157.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. Finally, Citigroup restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Monday, October 27th. Thirty analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $225.09.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

PANW opened at $192.96 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $205.36 and a 200 day simple moving average of $197.45. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $144.15 and a fifty-two week high of $223.61. The company has a market cap of $134.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 122.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.62 and a beta of 0.79.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its earnings results on Thursday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 firm had revenue of $2.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.46 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.56 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 15.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.

Palo Alto Networks Company Profile

Palo Alto Networks, Inc provides cybersecurity solutions worldwide. The company offers firewall appliances and software; and Panorama, a security management solution for the global control of network security platform as a virtual or a physical appliance. It also provides subscription services covering the areas of threat prevention, malware and persistent threat, URL filtering, laptop and mobile device protection, DNS security, Internet of Things security, SaaS security API, and SaaS security inline, as well as threat intelligence, and data loss prevention.