Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW Stake Boosted by AGP Franklin LLC

AGP Franklin LLC raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 148.2% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,754 shares of the network technology company’s stock after buying an additional 3,436 shares during the quarter. AGP Franklin LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $1,172,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position 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 valued at $13,100,311,000 after buying an additional 1,240,830 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Palo Alto Networks by 1.1% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,174,029 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $3,093,262,000 after acquiring an additional 169,055 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 7.7% during the 2nd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 5,295,588 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,083,689,000 after acquiring an additional 377,496 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,476,638 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $916,099,000 after buying an additional 54,601 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $675,865,000. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have commented on the stock. Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $220.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 13th. Bank of America increased their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $215.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 20th. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $265.00 price target (up from $230.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Monday, January 5th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $245.00 target price (up previously from $228.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Thursday, December 18th. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $215.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 10th. Thirty-one analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $229.09.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 0.4%

Shares of PANW opened at $183.50 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $127.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 116.14, a PEG ratio of 4.39 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 firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $187.84 and a 200 day simple moving average of $194.88.

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

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,768 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $191.03, for a total value of $23,070,311.04. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 298,887 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $57,096,383.61. The trade was a 28.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director James J. Goetz sold 12,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 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 a total of 382,016 shares of company stock worth $76,386,460 over the last ninety days. 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.