Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW Shares Purchased by Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co

Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 8.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 112,776 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 9,000 shares during the quarter. Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $22,963,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Klingman & Associates LLC raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2.2% in the third quarter. Klingman & Associates LLC now owns 2,131 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $434,000 after buying an additional 46 shares during the last quarter. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,742 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $558,000 after acquiring an additional 48 shares during the period. Mattern Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. Mattern Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,692 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $345,000 after acquiring an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. PTM Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 4.0% during the 3rd quarter. PTM Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,300 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $276,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the period. Finally, Arlington Trust Co LLC grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 4.8% during the 3rd quarter. Arlington Trust Co LLC now owns 1,088 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $222,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Stephens raised their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $225.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, November 20th. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $265.00 price objective (up from $230.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Monday, January 5th. Wolfe Research upped their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, December 15th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $245.00 target price (up previously from $228.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, December 18th. Thirty-one equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $225.38.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PANW opened at $165.30 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $115.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 104.62, a PEG ratio of 3.95 and a beta of 0.75. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $183.56 and its 200-day simple moving average is $192.74. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12 month low of $144.15 and a 12 month high of $223.61.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.89 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $2.47 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 quarterly revenue was up 15.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.56 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $188.18, for a total transaction of $940,900.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 155,119 shares in the company, valued at $29,190,293.42. This trade represents a 3.12% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director James J. Goetz sold 12,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 8th. The stock was 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 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. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 260,542 shares of company stock valued at $49,910,995. Insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

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.