DAVENPORT & Co LLC Purchases 5,386 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

DAVENPORT & Co LLC raised its position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 540,158 shares of the network technology company’s stock after buying an additional 5,386 shares during the period. DAVENPORT & Co LLC owned 0.08% of Palo Alto Networks worth $110,021,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of PANW. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 1.8% during the third quarter. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,742 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $558,000 after acquiring an additional 48 shares during the period. St. Clair Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. St. Clair Advisors LLC now owns 15,800 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $3,233,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC. raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2.1% during the 2nd quarter. Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC. now owns 2,467 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $496,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the period. TFG Advisers LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. TFG Advisers LLC now owns 4,668 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $955,000 after buying an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Investment Advisory Services Inc. TX ADV grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 4.6% during the second quarter. Investment Advisory Services Inc. TX ADV now owns 1,257 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $257,000 after buying an additional 55 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have weighed in on PANW shares. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $245.00 target price (up from $228.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Thursday, December 18th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $245.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, November 20th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 price objective (up from $235.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday, November 11th. Rosenblatt Securities raised their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 18th. Finally, New Street Research boosted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $235.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 12th. Thirty-one equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $226.20.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $191.91, for a total value of $23,177,738.34. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 327,645 shares in the company, valued at $62,878,351.95. This represents a 26.93% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director James J. Goetz sold 12,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $195.33, for a total transaction of $2,441,625.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 75,184 shares of the company’s stock, 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. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 376,922 shares of company stock valued at $77,963,339. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

NASDAQ:PANW opened at $188.12 on Wednesday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1 year low of $144.15 and a 1 year high of $223.61. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $201.09 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $197.20. The company has a market cap of $131.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 119.06, a P/E/G ratio of 4.50 and a beta of 0.79.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.89 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $2.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.46 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 17.05% and a net margin of 11.69%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.56 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Palo Alto Networks Company 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.