Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI Raises Stock Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 3.8% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 348,991 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 12,719 shares during the period. Palo Alto Networks makes up approximately 1.5% of Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI’s holdings, making the stock its 22nd largest position. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI owned about 0.05% of Palo Alto Networks worth $71,062,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Darwin Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter valued at about $25,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC increased its position 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 valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 128 shares during the last quarter. Briaud Financial Planning Inc purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter worth approximately $28,000. Howard Hughes Medical Institute bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the second quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Finally, MTM Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the second quarter valued at approximately $31,000. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PANW has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Wolfe Research boosted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, December 15th. Westpark Capital reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, November 20th. Hsbc Global Res downgraded Palo Alto Networks from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $220.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 13th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $240.00 target price (up from $236.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, November 20th. Thirty-one research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $229.09.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 1.1%

Shares of PANW opened at $180.18 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $188.56 and its 200 day moving average is $195.04. The company has a market capitalization of $125.59 billion, a PE ratio of 114.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.29 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.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $2.47 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.46 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 17.05% and a net margin of 11.69%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.56 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity 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 shares were 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 in the company, valued at approximately $29,190,293.42. The trade was a 3.12% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $217.94, for a total transaction of $26,321,485.56. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 356,409 shares in the company, valued at approximately $77,675,777.46. The trade was a 25.31% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 382,016 shares of company stock valued at $76,386,460. 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.