Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW Shares Acquired by Wealthfront Advisers LLC

Wealthfront Advisers LLC increased its position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 11.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 66,910 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,079 shares during the period. Wealthfront Advisers LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $13,624,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 147.7% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,761 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,230,000 after acquiring an additional 4,031 shares during the period. Bison Wealth LLC raised its position in Palo Alto Networks by 169.1% in the 4th quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 5,212 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $948,000 after purchasing an additional 3,275 shares during the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 66.3% during the 2nd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 3,484 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $713,000 after purchasing an additional 1,389 shares during the period. CWM LLC grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 24.5% during the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 74,571 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $15,260,000 after purchasing an additional 14,661 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Almanack Investment Partners LLC. acquired a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter valued at $223,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on PANW. Rosenblatt Securities increased their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 18th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $230.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, January 28th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, November 17th. Finally, Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and set a $245.00 price target (up previously from $228.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Thursday, December 18th. Thirty-one research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $227.36.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of PANW stock opened at $165.51 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $184.12 and a 200-day simple moving average of $192.93. The company has a market cap of $115.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 104.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.96 and a beta of 0.75. 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 released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.89 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $2.47 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.46 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 11.69% and a return on equity of 17.05%. The firm’s revenue was up 15.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.56 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at $29,190,293.42. The trade was a 3.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director James J. Goetz sold 12,500 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 8th. The stock was 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 directly owned 75,184 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,685,690.72. The trade was a 14.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders sold 260,542 shares of company stock valued at $49,910,995. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

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.