OFI Invest Asset Management Has $51.97 Million Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

OFI Invest Asset Management lowered its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 1.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 282,132 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 4,351 shares during the quarter. OFI Invest Asset Management’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $51,969,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in PANW. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 108.3% during the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,467,692 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $502,263,000 after buying an additional 1,282,738 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 2.0% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 65,269,963 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $13,290,270,000 after purchasing an additional 1,253,589 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the third quarter worth $162,161,000. Danske Bank A S bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the third quarter worth $151,682,000. Finally, Amundi lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 25.1% during the third quarter. Amundi now owns 3,532,201 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $750,875,000 after purchasing an additional 708,332 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on PANW shares. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $209.00 target price on Palo Alto Networks and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Barclays set a $200.00 target price on Palo Alto Networks and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 9th. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and set a $223.00 target price (down from $245.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $265.00 target price (up from $230.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Monday, January 5th. Finally, Wolfe Research upped their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, December 15th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-five have assigned a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $209.95.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of PANW opened at $173.78 on Thursday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52 week low of $139.57 and a 52 week high of $223.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $141.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 96.01, a PEG ratio of 5.89 and a beta of 0.77. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $161.22 and a 200-day moving average of $185.23.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 18th. The network technology company reported $1.03 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.94 by $0.09. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 17.60% and a net margin of 12.96%.The company had revenue of $2.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.58 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.81 EPS. Palo Alto Networks’s revenue was up 14.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, Director James J. Goetz sold 22,684 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $164.41, for a total value of $3,729,476.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 52,500 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,631,525. This represents a 30.17% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora purchased 68,085 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 27th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $146.87 per share, with a total value of $9,999,643.95. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer directly owned 343,394 shares in the company, valued at $50,434,276.78. The trade was a 24.73% increase in their position. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 28,784 shares of company stock valued at $4,709,116 over the last quarter. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.