Axa S.A. Lowers Stock Holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Axa S.A. trimmed its holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 63.1% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 868,259 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 1,486,221 shares during the quarter. Axa S.A. owned 0.13% of Palo Alto Networks worth $177,681,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Broadleaf Partners LLC purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the second quarter valued at $3,711,000. Investors Towarzystwo Funduszy Inwestycyjnych Spolka Akcyjna bought a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter valued at about $1,139,000. Lombard Odier Asset Management Switzerland SA boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 3.6% during the 2nd quarter. Lombard Odier Asset Management Switzerland SA now owns 31,008 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $6,345,000 after acquiring an additional 1,064 shares during the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 4.2% during the 2nd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 187,868 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $38,446,000 after acquiring an additional 7,596 shares during the period. Finally, Gerber Kawasaki Wealth & Investment Management increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 2.3% in the 2nd quarter. Gerber Kawasaki Wealth & Investment Management now owns 16,022 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $3,279,000 after buying an additional 364 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PANW opened at $195.35 on Tuesday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1-year low of $144.15 and a 1-year high of $223.61. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $205.81 and its two-hundred day moving average is $197.43. The company has a market cap of $136.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 123.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.71 and a beta of 0.79.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.89 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $2.47 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 was up 15.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.56 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on PANW. TD Cowen increased their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $230.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 13th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $232.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 12th. Truist Financial set a $220.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 19th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday, November 25th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Monday, November 24th. Thirty analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $225.09.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $191.91, for a total transaction of $23,177,738.34. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 327,645 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $62,878,351.95. The trade was a 26.93% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 846,408 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $204.06, for a total value of $172,718,016.48. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 275,013 shares in the company, valued at $56,119,152.78. This trade represents a 75.48% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 1,215,830 shares of company stock worth $249,260,680 over the last quarter. Insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Company 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.