Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW Shares Bought by Inscription Capital LLC

Inscription Capital LLC grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 331.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 8,051 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,186 shares during the quarter. Inscription Capital LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $1,639,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in PANW. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter valued at approximately $675,865,000. ABN AMRO Bank N.V. acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the second quarter valued at about $340,883,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 2.0% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 64,016,374 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $13,100,311,000 after purchasing an additional 1,240,830 shares in the last quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 97.9% during 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 acquiring an additional 1,041,145 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 30.6% in the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 2,392,224 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $487,105,000 after purchasing an additional 560,540 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $265.00 target price (up from $230.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Monday, January 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $235.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, December 17th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $232.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 12th. Mizuho set a $220.00 price target on Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday, December 16th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities boosted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 18th. Thirty-one research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $229.09.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

PANW opened at $187.66 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $130.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 118.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.47 and a beta of 0.76. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12 month low of $144.15 and a 12 month high of $223.61. The business has a 50-day moving average of $190.77 and a two-hundred day moving average of $195.56.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $0.93 earnings per share (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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.46 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.56 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 15.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $188.18, for a total value of $940,900.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 155,119 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,190,293.42. This trade represents a 3.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director James J. Goetz sold 12,500 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, the director directly owned 75,184 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,685,690.72. This trade represents a 14.26% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 382,016 shares of company stock valued at $76,386,460 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks 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.