Violich Capital Management Inc. Buys Shares of 2,850 Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Violich Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor bought 2,850 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $580,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of PANW. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake 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 acquiring an additional 1,240,830 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.1% during 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. First Trust Advisors LP grew its position 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 in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in 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 period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $675,865,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $188.18, for a total transaction of $940,900.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 155,119 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,190,293.42. This represents a 3.12% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director James J. Goetz sold 12,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 8th. The shares were 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 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 a total of 382,016 shares of company stock worth $76,386,460 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 0.0%

NASDAQ PANW opened at $187.66 on Monday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1-year low of $144.15 and a 1-year high of $223.61. The company has a 50 day moving average of $191.35 and a 200-day moving average of $195.66. The firm has a market cap of $130.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 118.77, a PEG ratio of 4.47 and a beta of 0.76.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced 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. 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.46 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.56 EPS. Palo Alto Networks’s revenue was up 15.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PANW has been the topic of several recent research reports. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $207.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 20th. UBS Group set a $215.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 13th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Monday, November 24th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 price objective (up previously from $235.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday, November 11th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res lowered shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. Thirty-one analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $229.09.

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.