JM2 Capital Inc. Takes $745,000 Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

JM2 Capital Inc. purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 4,046 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $745,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in PANW. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position 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 valued at $13,290,270,000 after purchasing an additional 1,253,589 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in Palo Alto Networks by 1.7% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 29,736,916 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $6,055,031,000 after purchasing an additional 505,924 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in Palo Alto Networks by 0.5% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,528,248 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,532,902,000 after purchasing an additional 36,511 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP raised its position in Palo Alto Networks by 11.5% during the third quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 5,906,963 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,202,776,000 after purchasing an additional 611,375 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in Palo Alto Networks by 0.4% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 4,037,320 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $822,079,000 after purchasing an additional 17,394 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PANW opened at $162.53 on Tuesday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $160.35 and a 200-day moving average of $184.21. The company has a market capitalization of $132.63 billion, a PE ratio of 89.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.62 and a beta of 0.77. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52-week low of $139.57 and a 52-week high of $223.61.

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

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 1,100 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $161.40, for a total value of $177,540.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 83,136 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,418,150.40. The trade was a 1.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director John P. Key sold 1,572 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $173.32, for a total transaction of $272,459.04. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 20,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,466,400. This represents a 7.29% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 30,356 shares of company stock valued at $4,981,575. 1.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PANW has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Argus upgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 20th. Daiwa Securities Group lowered their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $212.00 to $175.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 24th. HSBC lowered their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $157.00 to $114.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $265.00 price objective (up from $230.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Monday, January 5th. Finally, Mizuho set a $200.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Two investment 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $209.95.

Palo Alto Networks Company 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.