Janney Capital Management LLC Has $9.79 Million Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Janney Capital Management LLC grew its position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 15.9% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 48,089 shares of the network technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,612 shares during the period. Janney Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $9,792,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in PANW. Darwin Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 6,400.0% during the second quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 130 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 128 shares during the period. Briaud Financial Planning Inc bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter valued at $28,000. Howard Hughes Medical Institute acquired a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter worth $29,000. Finally, MTM Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter worth about $31,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently commented on PANW shares. Westpark Capital restated a “hold” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, November 20th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, November 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $235.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, December 17th. Mizuho set a $220.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday, December 16th. Finally, Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $225.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, November 20th. Thirty-one investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $227.86.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $188.88 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $193.23 and a 200 day simple moving average of $195.96. The stock has a market capitalization of $131.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 119.54, a PEG ratio of 4.51 and a beta of 0.76. 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 released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.89 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $2.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.46 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 17.05% and a net margin of 11.69%.The business’s revenue was up 15.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.56 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s 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 trade represents a 3.12% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $217.94, for a total transaction of $26,321,485.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 356,409 shares in the company, valued at approximately $77,675,777.46. This trade represents a 25.31% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 382,016 shares of company stock valued at $76,386,460 over the last three months. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

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.