SP Asset Management LLC Makes New Investment in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

SP Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 13,036 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,654,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in 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 buying an additional 1,240,830 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in 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 in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 7.7% during the second quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 5,295,588 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,083,689,000 after purchasing an additional 377,496 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 1.2% during the second quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,476,638 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $916,099,000 after purchasing an additional 54,601 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter valued at $675,865,000. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 0.9%

Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $175.42 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $187.05 and a 200 day moving average price of $194.46. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52 week low of $144.15 and a 52 week high of $223.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $122.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 111.03, a PEG ratio of 4.22 and a beta of 0.75.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $2.47 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.46 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.56 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 15.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 directly owned 155,119 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,190,293.42. The trade was a 3.12% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.81, for a total value of $147,848.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 46,005 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,502,184.05. The trade was a 1.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 260,542 shares of company stock worth $49,910,995 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $245.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 17th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 target price (up previously from $235.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday, November 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $240.00 price target (up from $236.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, November 20th. Finally, UBS Group set a $215.00 price objective on Palo Alto Networks and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 13th. Thirty-one investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $229.09.

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.