Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW Shares Acquired by Quilter Plc

Quilter Plc grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 10.3% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 897,973 shares of the network technology company’s stock after buying an additional 83,978 shares during the period. Palo Alto Networks makes up 3.1% of Quilter Plc’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest holding. Quilter Plc’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $182,845,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of PANW. CIBC Asset Management Inc raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.8% during the third quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 282,197 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $57,461,000 after purchasing an additional 5,028 shares during the period. TFR Capital LLC. raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. TFR Capital LLC. now owns 11,769 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $2,396,000 after buying an additional 93 shares during the period. BLB&B Advisors LLC grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 7.4% in the third quarter. BLB&B Advisors LLC now owns 92,566 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $18,848,000 after acquiring an additional 6,338 shares during the period. Sagespring Wealth Partners LLC grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 0.7% in the third quarter. Sagespring Wealth Partners LLC now owns 7,295 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,486,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares during the period. Finally, Robocap Asset Management Ltd raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 27.4% during the third quarter. Robocap Asset Management Ltd now owns 43,432 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $8,844,000 after purchasing an additional 9,335 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, Director James J. Goetz sold 12,500 shares of the firm’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 transaction of $2,441,625.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 75,184 shares in the company, valued at $14,685,690.72. This trade represents a 14.26% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, 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 sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 46,005 shares in the company, valued at $8,502,184.05. This trade represents a 1.71% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 382,016 shares of company stock valued at $76,386,460 in the last three months. Insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have weighed in on PANW. JMP Securities upped their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $212.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 27th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Monday, November 24th. UBS Group set a $215.00 price objective on Palo Alto Networks and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 13th. Barclays lifted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $215.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 10th. Finally, Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $265.00 price target (up previously from $230.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Monday, January 5th. Thirty-one equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $229.09.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 1.1%

Shares of PANW opened at $180.18 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $188.56 and a 200 day moving average of $195.04. The company has a market capitalization 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 12 month low of $144.15 and a 12 month high of $223.61.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced 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 firm had revenue of $2.47 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter was up 15.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.56 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

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.