Miracle Mile Advisors LLC Buys 3,074 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Miracle Mile Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 15.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 22,636 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,074 shares during the quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $4,609,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the second quarter worth about $675,865,000. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $633,068,000. ABN AMRO Bank N.V. acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $340,883,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2.0% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 64,016,374 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $13,100,311,000 after purchasing an additional 1,240,830 shares in the last quarter. Finally, California Public Employees Retirement System boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 97.9% during the second 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 1.4%

NASDAQ:PANW opened at $184.20 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $128.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 116.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.39 and a beta of 0.79. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1 year low of $144.15 and a 1 year high of $223.61. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $197.70 and a 200-day moving average of $196.71.

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

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $188.18, for a total value of $940,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 155,119 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,190,293.42. This trade represents a 3.12% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $189.39, for a total value of $132,573.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 46,805 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,864,398.95. The trade was a 1.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 381,222 shares of company stock worth $78,762,727 in the last quarter. Insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on PANW shares. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 price target (up previously from $235.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday, November 11th. BTIG Research reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, December 17th. New Street Research raised their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $235.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 12th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Monday, November 24th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $235.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, December 17th. Thirty-one research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $226.20.

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.