Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW Shares Purchased by GoalVest Advisory LLC

GoalVest Advisory LLC raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 1,248.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 10,899 shares of the network technology company’s stock after buying an additional 10,091 shares during the quarter. GoalVest Advisory LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $2,219,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the second quarter worth approximately $675,865,000. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter valued at $633,068,000. ABN AMRO Bank N.V. acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter worth $340,883,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2.0% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 64,016,374 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $13,100,311,000 after buying an additional 1,240,830 shares during the period. Finally, California Public Employees Retirement System boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 97.9% in the second quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 2,104,939 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $430,755,000 after acquiring an additional 1,041,145 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 2.6%

Shares of PANW stock opened at $179.37 on Monday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $196.95 and a 200-day simple moving average of $196.52. The company has a market capitalization of $125.02 billion, a PE ratio of 113.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.28 and a beta of 0.76. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a twelve month low of $144.15 and a twelve month high of $223.61.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $0.93 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 firm had revenue of $2.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.46 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.56 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 15.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $188.18, for a total transaction of $940,900.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 155,119 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,190,293.42. The trade was a 3.12% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director James J. Goetz sold 12,500 shares of the business’s 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 owned 75,184 shares in the company, valued at $14,685,690.72. This trade represents a 14.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 260,448 shares of company stock valued at $53,168,301 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PANW has been the topic of a number of research reports. Westpark Capital restated a “hold” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, November 20th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Monday, December 29th. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $215.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $235.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, December 17th. Finally, JMP Securities raised their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $212.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 27th. 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 MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $226.20.

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.