Bedell Frazier Investment Counselling LLC Raises Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Bedell Frazier Investment Counselling LLC grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 24.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,317 shares of the network technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 841 shares during the period. Bedell Frazier Investment Counselling LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $883,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of PANW. Whipplewood Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 6,400.0% during the 2nd quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 130 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 128 shares during the period. Briaud Financial Planning Inc acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the second quarter worth about $28,000. MTM Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the second quarter worth approximately $31,000. Dagco Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the first quarter worth approximately $33,000. Finally, Marshall & Sullivan Inc. WA acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter valued at approximately $41,000. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $217.94, for a total value of $26,321,485.56. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 356,409 shares in the company, valued at $77,675,777.46. This represents a 25.31% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 846,408 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $204.06, for a total transaction of $172,718,016.48. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 275,013 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $56,119,152.78. This represents a 75.48% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 1,215,830 shares of company stock valued at $249,160,428 over the last ninety days. 1.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

PANW opened at $202.90 on Tuesday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a one year low of $144.15 and a one year high of $223.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $138.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 126.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.88 and a beta of 0.95. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $209.18 and its 200-day simple moving average is $197.32.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its earnings results on Monday, August 18th. The network technology company reported $0.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.89 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $2.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.50 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 17.66% and a net margin of 12.30%.The business’s revenue was up 15.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.75 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have commented on PANW shares. KeyCorp downgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Guggenheim boosted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 19th. Truist Financial set a $220.00 target price on Palo Alto Networks and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 19th. UBS Group lifted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, November 13th. Finally, JMP Securities upped their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $212.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 27th. Twenty-nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $223.24.

Palo Alto Networks Profile

Palo Alto Networks, Inc provides cybersecurity solutions worldwide. The company offers firewall appliances and software; and Panorama, a security management solution for the global control of network security platform as a virtual or a physical appliance. It also provides subscription services covering the areas of threat prevention, malware and persistent threat, URL filtering, laptop and mobile device protection, DNS security, Internet of Things security, SaaS security API, and SaaS security inline, as well as threat intelligence, and data loss prevention.