Vanguard Capital Wealth Advisors Buys 6,281 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Vanguard Capital Wealth Advisors lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 432.0% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 7,735 shares of the network technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,281 shares during the period. Palo Alto Networks makes up approximately 1.3% of Vanguard Capital Wealth Advisors’ holdings, making the stock its 20th largest holding. Vanguard Capital Wealth Advisors’ holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $1,575,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PANW. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2.0% in the second 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 raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.1% during the 2nd 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 purchasing an additional 169,055 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 7.7% during the 2nd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 5,295,588 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,083,689,000 after buying an additional 377,496 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,476,638 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $916,099,000 after buying an additional 54,601 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter worth $675,865,000. 79.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Tigress Financial initiated coverage on Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Friday, September 26th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $245.00 price objective on the stock. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $245.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $240.00 price target (up from $236.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $215.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 20th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $232.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 12th. 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 stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $229.09.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.81, for a total value of $147,848.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 46,005 shares in the company, valued at $8,502,184.05. This trade represents a 1.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director James J. Goetz sold 12,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the director owned 75,184 shares in the company, valued at $14,685,690.72. This trade represents a 14.26% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 382,016 shares of company stock worth $76,386,460 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 0.4%

Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $182.27 on Friday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52-week low of $144.15 and a 52-week high of $223.61. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $189.06 and its 200 day moving average is $195.25. The company has a market cap of $127.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 115.36, a PEG ratio of 4.32 and a beta of 0.76.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued 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. The business 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 period last year, the company posted $1.56 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.