CUSHING ASSET MANAGEMENT LP dba NXG INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Buys 17,000 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

CUSHING ASSET MANAGEMENT LP dba NXG INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 56.7% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 47,000 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 17,000 shares during the quarter. CUSHING ASSET MANAGEMENT LP dba NXG INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $9,570,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $189.39, for a total transaction of $132,573.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 46,805 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,864,398.95. This trade represents a 1.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $191.91, for a total value of $23,177,738.34. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 327,645 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $62,878,351.95. This trade represents a 26.93% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 381,222 shares of company stock worth $78,762,727 in the last 90 days. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on PANW shares. Wolfe Research upped their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, December 15th. JMP Securities upped their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $212.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 27th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $215.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 10th. HSBC lowered shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating and set a $157.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 target price (up previously from $235.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday, November 11th. Thirty-one equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $226.20.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

NASDAQ:PANW opened at $186.85 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $130.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 118.26, a P/E/G ratio of 4.44 and a beta of 0.79. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $144.15 and a fifty-two week high of $223.61. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $198.88 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $196.89.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 prior year, the company posted $1.56 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict 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.