Mairs & Power Inc. Raises Holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Mairs & Power Inc. grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 171.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 111,242 shares of the network technology company’s stock after buying an additional 70,311 shares during the quarter. Mairs & Power Inc.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $22,651,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Palo Alto Networks by 2.0% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 65,269,963 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $13,290,270,000 after acquiring an additional 1,253,589 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 11.5% during the 3rd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 5,906,963 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,202,776,000 after purchasing an additional 611,375 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.2% during 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 purchasing an additional 54,601 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 0.4% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 4,037,320 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $822,079,000 after buying an additional 17,394 shares during the period. Finally, Amundi grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 25.1% in the 3rd quarter. Amundi now owns 3,532,201 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $750,875,000 after acquiring an additional 708,332 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 298,887 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $57,096,383.61. The trade was a 28.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $188.18, for a total value of $940,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 155,119 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,190,293.42. The trade was a 3.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 149,252 shares of company stock valued at $27,888,535 over the last quarter. Insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 0.3%

NASDAQ:PANW opened at $167.45 on Tuesday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12-month low of $139.57 and a 12-month high of $223.61. The firm has a market cap of $136.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 92.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.03 and a beta of 0.78. The company’s 50-day moving average is $169.55 and its two-hundred day moving average is $189.35.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 18th. The network technology company reported $1.03 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.94 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $2.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.58 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 12.96% and a return on equity of 17.60%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 14.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.81 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on PANW shares. Loop Capital reduced their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $190.00 to $160.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. BTIG Research reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $200.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Wells Fargo & Company began coverage on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Tuesday, March 3rd. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $200.00 price objective on the stock. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $225.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Monday, December 29th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have issued a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $210.19.

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.