Patron Partners LLC Boosts Holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Patron Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 211.2% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 4,846 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,289 shares during the quarter. Patron Partners LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $987,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 29.4% during the third quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 32,155 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $6,547,000 after buying an additional 7,301 shares during the period. Silver Oak Securities Incorporated raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 240.1% during the 3rd quarter. Silver Oak Securities Incorporated now owns 11,732 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $2,389,000 after acquiring an additional 8,282 shares during the last quarter. GoalVest Advisory LLC lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 1,248.9% during the 3rd quarter. GoalVest Advisory LLC now owns 10,899 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $2,219,000 after acquiring an additional 10,091 shares during the period. Schroder Investment Management Group lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 7.9% during the 2nd quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 2,234,551 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $457,279,000 after acquiring an additional 163,718 shares during the period. Finally, Richmond Investment Services LLC grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 87.2% in the 2nd quarter. Richmond Investment Services LLC now owns 3,286 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $672,000 after purchasing an additional 1,531 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 1.1%

Shares of Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $180.18 on Monday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $188.56 and a two-hundred day moving average of $194.96. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12-month low of $144.15 and a 12-month high of $223.61. The stock has a market cap of $125.59 billion, a PE ratio of 114.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.29 and a beta of 0.76.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly 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 analyst estimates of $2.46 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.56 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 15.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In other 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer 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 SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,768 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $191.03, for a total value of $23,070,311.04. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 298,887 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $57,096,383.61. This trade represents a 28.78% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 382,016 shares of company stock worth $76,386,460 over the last ninety days. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $230.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, November 20th. HSBC cut shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating and set a $157.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $207.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $220.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 13th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $245.00 target price (up previously from $228.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Thursday, December 18th. Thirty-one equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $229.09.

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.