NEOS Investment Management LLC Buys 107,340 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

NEOS Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 63.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 277,601 shares of the network technology company’s stock after buying an additional 107,340 shares during the quarter. NEOS Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $56,525,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of PANW. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter valued at about $675,865,000. ABN AMRO Bank N.V. bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter worth about $340,883,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 1,253,589 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 97.9% in the 2nd quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 2,104,939 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $430,755,000 after buying an additional 1,041,145 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 3,881.4% during the 3rd quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 721,157 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $146,842,000 after acquiring an additional 703,044 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 2.5%

NASDAQ:PANW opened at $166.95 on Tuesday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a twelve month low of $144.15 and a twelve month high of $223.61. The company’s 50 day moving average is $181.69 and its two-hundred day moving average is $192.28. The company has a market cap of $116.36 billion, a PE ratio of 105.66, a P/E/G ratio of 3.99 and a beta of 0.75.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.89 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $2.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.46 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 17.05% and a net margin of 11.69%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 15.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.56 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $191.91, for a total transaction of $23,177,738.34. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 327,645 shares in the company, valued at approximately $62,878,351.95. The trade was a 26.93% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 23rd. The stock was 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 owned 155,119 shares in the company, valued at $29,190,293.42. The trade was a 3.12% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 260,542 shares of company stock worth $49,910,995 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PANW has been the topic of several recent research reports. Westpark Capital reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, November 20th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $225.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, November 20th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $220.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, February 11th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, HSBC cut shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating and set a $157.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. Thirty-one analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $223.97.

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.