ABN Amro Investment Solutions Purchases 62,801 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

ABN Amro Investment Solutions boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 51.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 184,265 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 62,801 shares during the period. ABN Amro Investment Solutions’ holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $33,942,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 39.7% in the 3rd quarter. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 176 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Harold Davidson & Associates Inc. grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 5.0% in the 3rd quarter. Harold Davidson & Associates Inc. now owns 1,056 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $215,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Princeton Capital Management LLC grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 3.4% in the 3rd quarter. Princeton Capital Management LLC now owns 1,520 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $310,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. South Plains Financial Inc. grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. South Plains Financial Inc. now owns 4,823 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $982,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fayez Sarofim & Co grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Fayez Sarofim & Co now owns 4,310 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $878,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PANW has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Daiwa Securities Group reduced their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $212.00 to $175.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 24th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $185.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Rosenblatt Securities upped their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, DA Davidson set a $190.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-five have assigned a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $225.16.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 2.7%

PANW opened at $246.66 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $201.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 136.28, a PEG ratio of 8.66 and a beta of 0.77. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a twelve month low of $139.57 and a twelve month high of $250.00. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $179.63 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $181.54.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 18th. The network technology company reported $1.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.94 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $2.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.81 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Key Headlines Impacting Palo Alto Networks

Here are the key news stories impacting Palo Alto Networks this week:

• Positive Sentiment: BMO Capital Markets raised its price target on Palo Alto Networks to $270 from $200 and kept an outperform rating, signaling confidence that the stock can continue higher. MarketScreener
• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley increased its target to $253 from $223 and maintained an overweight rating, adding to the cluster of bullish analyst calls. MarketScreener
• Positive Sentiment: Stifel Nicolaus boosted its target to $275 from $185 and reiterated a buy rating, reinforcing expectations for further upside in PANW shares. The Fly
• Positive Sentiment: Truist Financial also raised its price target to $275 from $200 and kept a buy rating, indicating broad analyst enthusiasm for Palo Alto Networks’ growth outlook. MarketScreener
• Neutral Sentiment: Commentary about AI reshaping cybersecurity and articles highlighting PANW as a cybersecurity stock to watch support the long-term theme, but they do not appear to be immediate stock-moving catalysts. ETF Trends

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, Director James J. Goetz sold 22,684 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $164.41, for a total value of $3,729,476.44. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 52,500 shares in the company, valued at $8,631,525. The trade was a 30.17% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 1,100 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $161.40, for a total transaction of $177,540.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 83,136 shares in the company, valued at $13,418,150.40. The trade was a 1.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 30,356 shares of company stock valued at $4,981,575. Corporate 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.