Van Strum & Towne Inc. Takes $2.41 Million Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Van Strum & Towne Inc. bought a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 11,819 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,407,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 372,579 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $75,865,000 after purchasing an additional 13,519 shares in the last quarter. Drive Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 2.5% during the third quarter. Drive Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,955 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $602,000 after acquiring an additional 71 shares during the period. Westfuller Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the third quarter worth about $1,015,000. Probity Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 5.2% in the 3rd quarter. Probity Advisors Inc. now owns 1,665 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $339,000 after acquiring an additional 82 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MOKAN Wealth Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 23.0% during the 3rd quarter. MOKAN Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,633 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $333,000 after purchasing an additional 305 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

NASDAQ PANW opened at $180.18 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $125.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 114.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.34 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $188.56 and a 200-day simple moving average of $195.10. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52-week low of $144.15 and a 52-week high of $223.61.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $2.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.46 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 11.69% and a return on equity of 17.05%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.56 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently commented on PANW. HSBC downgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating and set a $157.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Thursday, November 20th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $220.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 13th. UBS Group set a $215.00 price objective on Palo Alto Networks and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 13th. DA Davidson set a $240.00 target price on Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Friday, December 19th. Finally, Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $245.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, November 20th. Thirty-one investment 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $229.09.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 800 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Friday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.81, for a total transaction of $147,848.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 46,005 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,502,184.05. This trade represents a 1.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through 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 in the company, valued at approximately $14,685,690.72. The trade was a 14.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 382,016 shares of company stock valued at $76,386,460 in the last three months. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About Palo Alto Networks

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.