Gradient Investments LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Gradient Investments LLC grew its position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 5.6% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 172,928 shares of the network technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 9,182 shares during the quarter. Gradient Investments LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $31,853,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC now owns 10,428 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,921,000 after purchasing an additional 284 shares during the period. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC increased its position in Palo Alto Networks by 92.5% in the 4th quarter. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC now owns 93,630 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $17,052,000 after acquiring an additional 44,984 shares during the period. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC increased its position in Palo Alto Networks by 12.9% in the 4th quarter. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC now owns 11,822 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $2,178,000 after acquiring an additional 1,351 shares during the period. Maridea Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 29.3% during the 4th quarter. Maridea Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,748 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $875,000 after acquiring an additional 1,075 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,505,894 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $464,342,000 after acquiring an additional 75,779 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PANW has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. UBS Group set a $183.00 target price on Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, February 19th. HSBC decreased their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $157.00 to $114.00 in a report on Thursday, February 19th. New Street Research dropped their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $240.00 to $220.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $220.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have issued a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $210.19.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of PANW stock opened at $162.95 on Monday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $167.77 and its 200 day moving average price is $188.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $132.97 billion, a PE ratio of 90.03, a P/E/G ratio of 5.88 and a beta of 0.78. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1-year low of $139.57 and a 1-year high of $223.61.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its 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. 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 return on equity of 17.60% and a net margin of 12.96%.Palo Alto Networks’s quarterly revenue was up 14.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.81 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, Director James J. Goetz sold 22,684 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $164.41, for a total transaction of $3,729,476.44. Following the sale, the director owned 52,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,631,525. The trade was a 30.17% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $188.18, for a total transaction of $940,900.00. Following the transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 149,252 shares of company stock worth $27,888,535. 1.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.