Outfitters Financial LLC Acquires New Shares in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Outfitters Financial LLC acquired a new position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 3,210 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $654,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PANW. 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 during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 1.1% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,174,029 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $3,093,262,000 after buying an additional 169,055 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 16.0% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 6,902,048 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,177,765,000 after buying an additional 950,765 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 7.7% during the second quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 5,295,588 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,083,689,000 after buying an additional 377,496 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.2% during the second quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,476,638 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $916,099,000 after acquiring an additional 54,601 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on PANW. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $232.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated an “overweight” rating and set a $235.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, December 17th. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 18th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $207.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 20th. Finally, Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and set a $245.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, November 20th. Thirty-one analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $227.06.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.81, for a total transaction of $147,848.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 46,005 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,502,184.05. The trade was a 1.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director James J. Goetz sold 12,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $195.33, for a total value of $2,441,625.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 75,184 shares in the company, valued at $14,685,690.72. This trade represents a 14.26% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 261,248 shares of company stock worth $53,316,149. Insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PANW opened at $185.86 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $129.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 117.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.34 and a beta of 0.76. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $195.48 and its two-hundred day moving average is $196.30. 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 announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.89 by $0.04. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 17.05% and a net margin of 11.69%.The business had revenue of $2.47 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.46 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.56 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate 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.