Stanley Laman Group Ltd. Buys New Shares in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Stanley Laman Group Ltd. purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 34,147 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,953,000. Palo Alto Networks makes up 1.0% of Stanley Laman Group Ltd.’s holdings, making the stock its 20th biggest position.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Darwin Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 6,400.0% in the second quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 130 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 128 shares during the period. Briaud Financial Planning Inc bought a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter worth approximately $28,000. Howard Hughes Medical Institute purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter worth $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. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Westpark Capital reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, November 20th. New Street Research upped their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $235.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 12th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Monday, November 24th. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $245.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, November 20th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $240.00 price target (up from $236.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. Thirty-one research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $226.20.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

NASDAQ PANW opened at $179.37 on Monday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1-year low of $144.15 and a 1-year high of $223.61. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $196.95 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $196.52. The stock has a market capitalization of $125.02 billion, a PE ratio of 113.53, a P/E/G ratio of 4.28 and a beta of 0.76.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its 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 return on equity of 17.05% and a net margin of 11.69%.The firm had revenue of $2.47 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.46 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.56 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 15.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $217.94, for a total value of $26,321,485.56. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 356,409 shares in the company, valued at $77,675,777.46. The trade was a 25.31% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $189.39, for a total transaction of $132,573.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 46,805 shares in the company, valued at $8,864,398.95. This represents a 1.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 260,448 shares of company stock valued at $53,168,301. Corporate 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.