Capital Wealth Alliance LLC Increases Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Capital Wealth Alliance LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 188.9% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 2,641 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,727 shares during the period. Capital Wealth Alliance LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $895,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 6.2% during the 2nd quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC now owns 12,516 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $4,243,000 after purchasing an additional 732 shares during the last quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 4.3% during the 2nd quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 302,760 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $102,639,000 after acquiring an additional 12,555 shares in the last quarter. Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 5.9% in the second quarter. Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors now owns 3,600 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,220,000 after buying an additional 201 shares during the last quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 0.7% in the second quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 44,000 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $14,916,000 after buying an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 11.9% in the 2nd quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 24,945 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $8,456,000 after acquiring an additional 2,653 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on PANW. Northland Securities raised their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $275.00 to $350.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday. TD Cowen upped their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $350.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $300.00 to $330.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $350.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $363.49.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 36,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $293.31, for a total transaction of $10,559,160.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 1,259,567 shares in the company, valued at $369,443,596.77. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 36,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $293.31, for a total value of $10,559,160.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 1,259,567 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $369,443,596.77. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, President William D. Jenkins, Jr. sold 1,475 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $339.12, for a total value of $500,202.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the president now directly owns 19,026 shares in the company, valued at $6,452,097.12. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 366,372 shares of company stock worth $118,440,693 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 3.30% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of Palo Alto Networks stock traded up $1.27 on Friday, reaching $350.75. 3,503,407 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,430,739. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $329.49 and its 200-day moving average is $311.45. The firm has a market cap of $113.57 billion, a PE ratio of 50.86, a P/E/G ratio of 4.40 and a beta of 1.14. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a one year low of $224.64 and a one year high of $380.84.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 19th. The network technology company reported $1.51 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.41 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $2.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.16 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 32.74% and a net margin of 31.42%. Palo Alto Networks’s revenue was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.80 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Palo Alto Networks Company Profile

Palo Alto Networks, Inc provides cybersecurity solutions worldwide. The company offers firewall appliances and software; and Panorama, a security management solution for the global control of network security platform as a virtual or a physical appliance. It also provides subscription services covering the areas of threat prevention, malware and persistent threat, URL filtering, laptop and mobile device protection, DNS security, Internet of Things security, SaaS security API, and SaaS security inline, as well as threat intelligence, and data loss prevention.