Exchange Traded Concepts LLC Raises Holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Exchange Traded Concepts LLC increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 29.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 32,155 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,301 shares during the period. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $6,547,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Darwin Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter valued at $25,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 6,400.0% in the 2nd quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 130 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 128 shares during the last quarter. Briaud Financial Planning Inc purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter valued at about $28,000. Howard Hughes Medical Institute acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter worth about $29,000. Finally, MTM Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the second quarter worth about $31,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Northland Securities upped their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $177.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. Stephens increased their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 14th. DA Davidson set a $240.00 target price on Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Friday. Finally, Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $230.00 price target (up from $225.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. Thirty-one analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $226.20.

Insider Activity

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $211.92, for a total transaction of $25,594,426.08. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 149,190 shares in the company, valued at $31,616,344.80. The trade was a 44.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $189.39, for a total value of $132,573.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 46,805 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,864,398.95. The trade was a 1.47% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 376,922 shares of company stock valued at $77,963,339. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $188.12 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $131.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 119.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.50 and a beta of 0.79. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12 month low of $144.15 and a 12 month high of $223.61. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $201.09 and its 200-day moving average is $197.20.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.89 by $0.04. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 17.05% and a net margin of 11.69%.The business had revenue of $2.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.46 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.56 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.7% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.

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.