Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. Has $18.46 Million Stock Holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. lowered its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 5.6% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 90,643 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 5,410 shares during the quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $18,457,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of PANW. Darwin Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 6,400.0% during the second quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 130 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 128 shares in the last quarter. Briaud Financial Planning Inc acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the second quarter worth approximately $28,000. Howard Hughes Medical Institute acquired a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter valued at $29,000. Finally, MTM Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter valued at $31,000. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently commented on PANW shares. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 price target (up previously from $235.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Tuesday, November 11th. Northland Securities raised their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $177.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 20th. DA Davidson set a $240.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Friday, December 19th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $215.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 20th. Finally, Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $225.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. Thirty-one investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $226.20.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PANW opened at $186.85 on Tuesday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a one year low of $144.15 and a one year high of $223.61. The company has a market cap of $130.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 118.26, a PEG ratio of 4.48 and a beta of 0.79. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $199.44 and a 200 day simple moving average of $196.96.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $0.93 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $2.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.46 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.56 earnings per share. The company’s revenue 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 year.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, Director James J. Goetz sold 12,500 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $195.33, for a total transaction of $2,441,625.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 75,184 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,685,690.72. This trade represents a 14.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $211.92, for a total value of $25,594,426.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 149,190 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $31,616,344.80. This represents a 44.74% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 381,922 shares of company stock valued at $78,904,239 over the last three months. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

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.