Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Sells 13,350 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans trimmed its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 27.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 35,478 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 13,350 shares during the quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans’ holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $7,224,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC increased its holdings 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 valued at $6,547,000 after acquiring an additional 7,301 shares in the last quarter. Silver Oak Securities Incorporated lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 240.1% in the third quarter. Silver Oak Securities Incorporated now owns 11,732 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $2,389,000 after buying an additional 8,282 shares in the last quarter. GoalVest Advisory LLC grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1,248.9% during the third quarter. GoalVest Advisory LLC now owns 10,899 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $2,219,000 after buying an additional 10,091 shares during the last quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 7.9% during the second quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 2,234,551 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $457,279,000 after acquiring an additional 163,718 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Richmond Investment Services LLC raised its holdings in 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 worth $672,000 after acquiring an additional 1,531 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have commented on the company. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $220.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 13th. Mizuho set a $220.00 price objective on Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday, December 16th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $225.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. TD Cowen lifted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $230.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 13th. Finally, JMP Securities increased their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $212.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 27th. Thirty-one investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $229.09.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 7.2%

Shares of NASDAQ:PANW opened at $154.77 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $107.87 billion, a PE ratio of 97.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.98 and a beta of 0.75. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $185.67 and its 200-day moving average price is $193.79. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a twelve month low of $144.15 and a twelve month high of $223.61.

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, beating 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 firm’s revenue was up 15.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.56 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 800 shares of the firm’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 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director James J. Goetz sold 12,500 shares of Palo Alto Networks 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 approximately $14,685,690.72. This trade represents a 14.26% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 260,542 shares of company stock valued at $49,910,995 over the last three months. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.