QRG Capital Management Inc. Has $13.47 Million Stock Holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

QRG Capital Management Inc. lowered its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 20.0% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 66,160 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 16,507 shares during the period. QRG Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $13,471,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Klingman & Associates LLC raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2.2% in the third quarter. Klingman & Associates LLC now owns 2,131 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $434,000 after acquiring an additional 46 shares during the last quarter. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,742 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $558,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. Mattern Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Palo Alto Networks by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. Mattern Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,692 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $345,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC. boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 2.1% in the second quarter. Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC. now owns 2,467 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $496,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PTM Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 4.0% in the third quarter. PTM Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,300 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $276,000 after buying an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 0.0%

NASDAQ PANW opened at $187.66 on Friday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12 month low of $144.15 and a 12 month high of $223.61. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $191.35 and a 200 day simple moving average of $195.67. The company has a market capitalization of $130.80 billion, a PE ratio of 118.77, a P/E/G ratio of 4.47 and a beta of 0.76.

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

Insider Activity

In other Palo Alto Networks news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 800 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.81, for a total value of $147,848.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 46,005 shares in the company, valued at $8,502,184.05. This represents a 1.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $188.18, for a total value of $940,900.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 155,119 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,190,293.42. This represents a 3.12% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 382,016 shares of company stock valued at $76,386,460. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $230.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $220.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 13th. Tigress Financial assumed coverage on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Friday, September 26th. They set a “buy” rating and a $245.00 price target on the stock. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $215.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 10th. Finally, Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $225.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. Thirty-one equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $229.09.

About Palo Alto Networks

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.