Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW Shares Purchased by Pacer Advisors Inc.

Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 224,043 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,423 shares during the quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $45,620,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 29.4% in the 3rd quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 32,155 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $6,547,000 after buying an additional 7,301 shares during the period. Strive Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 16.6% during the first quarter. Strive Asset Management LLC now owns 2,099 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $358,000 after acquiring an additional 299 shares during the last quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 7.9% in the 2nd quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 2,234,551 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $457,279,000 after purchasing an additional 163,718 shares during the period. Richmond Investment Services LLC lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 87.2% in the 2nd quarter. Richmond Investment Services LLC now owns 3,286 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $672,000 after purchasing an additional 1,531 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Panagora Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 4,524.0% during the 2nd quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 547,944 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $112,131,000 after purchasing an additional 536,094 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently commented on PANW. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, November 17th. New Street Research raised their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $235.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated an “overweight” rating and set a $235.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, December 17th. JMP Securities upped their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $212.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 27th. Finally, Citigroup reiterated a “market outperform” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Monday, December 15th. Thirty-one equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $226.20.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of PANW opened at $188.45 on Friday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a one year low of $144.15 and a one year high of $223.61. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $199.94 and a 200 day moving average price of $197.01. The company has a market capitalization of $131.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 119.27, a P/E/G ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.79.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.89 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $2.47 billion for 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%.Palo Alto Networks’s quarterly revenue was up 15.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.56 EPS. As a group, equities research 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 Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $211.92, for a total transaction of $25,594,426.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 149,190 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $31,616,344.80. This trade represents a 44.74% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director James J. Goetz sold 12,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 376,922 shares of company stock worth $77,963,339 in the last ninety days. 1.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.