Westover Capital Advisors LLC Acquires 3,100 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Westover Capital Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 27.2% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 14,492 shares of the network technology company’s stock after buying an additional 3,100 shares during the period. Westover Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $2,951,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 29.4% in 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 buying an additional 7,301 shares during the last quarter. Silver Oak Securities Incorporated increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 240.1% during the 3rd quarter. Silver Oak Securities Incorporated now owns 11,732 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $2,389,000 after acquiring an additional 8,282 shares during the last quarter. GoalVest Advisory LLC raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 1,248.9% in the 3rd quarter. GoalVest Advisory LLC now owns 10,899 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $2,219,000 after acquiring an additional 10,091 shares during the period. Schroder Investment Management Group raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 7.9% in the 2nd 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 during the period. Finally, Richmond Investment Services LLC lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 87.2% during the 2nd quarter. Richmond Investment Services LLC now owns 3,286 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $672,000 after purchasing an additional 1,531 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of Palo Alto Networks stock 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 price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.95 and a beta of 0.75. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a twelve month low of $144.15 and a twelve month high of $223.61. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $183.56 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $192.74.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.04. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 11.69% and a return on equity of 17.05%. The company had revenue of $2.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.46 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.56 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate 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 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 sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 46,005 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,502,184.05. This represents a 1.71% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 23rd. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at $29,190,293.42. The trade was a 3.12% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 260,542 shares of company stock worth $49,910,995 in the last quarter. Insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have commented on PANW. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $225.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, November 20th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed 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. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Citigroup restated a “buy” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Monday, January 12th. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 14th. Thirty-one research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $225.38.

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.