Legal Advantage Investments Inc. Buys 2,790 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Legal Advantage Investments Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 10.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 30,790 shares of the network technology company’s stock after buying an additional 2,790 shares during the quarter. Palo Alto Networks comprises about 2.8% of Legal Advantage Investments Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 10th biggest holding. Legal Advantage Investments Inc.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $6,269,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Brighton Jones LLC grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 147.7% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,761 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,230,000 after purchasing an additional 4,031 shares during the last quarter. Bison Wealth LLC boosted its position in shares of 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 period. Gabelli Funds LLC boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 4.4% in the 1st quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 1,660 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $283,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares during the period. WPG Advisers LLC acquired a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the first quarter worth approximately $37,000. Finally, Calton & Associates Inc. acquired a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the first quarter worth approximately $358,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on PANW. Tigress Financial initiated coverage on Palo Alto Networks in a report on Friday, September 26th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $245.00 price objective for the company. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Monday, December 22nd. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $215.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 20th. Westpark Capital reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein upped their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $207.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 20th. Thirty-one analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $226.20.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the executive vice president owned 155,119 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,190,293.42. The trade was a 3.12% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $191.91, for a total value of $23,177,738.34. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 327,645 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $62,878,351.95. This trade represents a 26.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 381,922 shares of company stock worth $78,904,239 over the last quarter. 1.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

NASDAQ:PANW opened at $186.85 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $130.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 118.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.48 and a beta of 0.79. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $199.44 and its 200 day moving average price is $196.96. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1-year low of $144.15 and a 1-year high of $223.61.

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

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.