Cwm LLC Grows Stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Cwm LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 47.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 109,614 shares of the network technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 35,043 shares during the period. Cwm LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $22,320,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $189.39, for a total value of $132,573.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 46,805 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,864,398.95. This trade represents a 1.47% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director James J. Goetz sold 12,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $195.33, for a total value of $2,441,625.00. Following the transaction, the director 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. Insiders sold a total of 376,922 shares of company stock worth $77,963,339 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on PANW. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $230.00 price objective (up from $225.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 14th. New Street Research upped their price objective 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. TD Cowen increased their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $230.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 13th. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $215.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, November 10th. Thirty-one research 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, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $226.20.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

PANW stock opened at $188.45 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $131.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 119.27, a PEG ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.79. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1-year low of $144.15 and a 1-year high of $223.61. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $199.94 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $197.01.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly 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 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 the consensus estimate of $2.46 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.56 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.