CoreCap Advisors LLC Buys 2,987 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

CoreCap Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 44.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 9,694 shares of the network technology company’s stock after buying an additional 2,987 shares during the quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $1,974,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently commented on PANW shares. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $245.00 price target (up from $228.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, December 18th. Northland Securities lifted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $177.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $265.00 price target (up previously from $230.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Monday. HSBC downgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating and set a $157.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Thursday, November 20th. Finally, Tigress Financial initiated coverage on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Friday, September 26th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $245.00 target price on the stock. Thirty-one investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $227.99.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 1.6%

PANW opened at $190.80 on Friday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12 month low of $144.15 and a 12 month high of $223.61. The company has a market cap of $132.99 billion, a PE ratio of 120.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.62 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a 50 day moving average of $194.46 and a 200 day moving average of $196.25.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $0.93 earnings per share (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 business 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 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $191.91, for a total value of $23,177,738.34. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 327,645 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $62,878,351.95. This represents a 26.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director James J. Goetz sold 12,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $195.33, for a total transaction of $2,441,625.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 75,184 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,685,690.72. This trade represents a 14.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 261,248 shares of company stock worth $53,316,149. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

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.