ProShare Advisors LLC Reduces Stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

ProShare Advisors LLC reduced its holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 17.7% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 866,568 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 186,413 shares during the quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC owned about 0.13% of Palo Alto Networks worth $176,451,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in PANW. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 29.4% during the 3rd quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 32,155 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $6,547,000 after acquiring an additional 7,301 shares during the period. Silver Oak Securities Incorporated grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 240.1% in the 3rd quarter. Silver Oak Securities Incorporated now owns 11,732 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $2,389,000 after buying an additional 8,282 shares during the last quarter. GoalVest Advisory LLC grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1,248.9% in the 3rd quarter. GoalVest Advisory LLC now owns 10,899 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $2,219,000 after buying an additional 10,091 shares during the last quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group increased its position in Palo Alto Networks by 7.9% during the 2nd quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 2,234,551 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $457,279,000 after buying an additional 163,718 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Richmond Investment Services LLC raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 87.2% during the second quarter. Richmond Investment Services LLC now owns 3,286 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $672,000 after buying an additional 1,531 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on PANW. Northland Securities increased 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. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $215.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 20th. Mizuho set a $220.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday, December 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $240.00 price target (up previously from $236.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, November 20th. Finally, Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $245.00 price objective 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 issued a Hold rating and one has given 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 price target of $229.09.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, Director James J. Goetz sold 12,500 shares of the business’s 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 $14,685,690.72. The trade was a 14.26% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $188.18, for a total transaction 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. The trade was a 3.12% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders sold 260,542 shares of company stock valued at $49,910,995. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 2.9%

Shares of PANW stock opened at $159.32 on Monday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12-month low of $144.15 and a 12-month high of $223.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $111.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 100.84, a P/E/G ratio of 3.80 and a beta of 0.75. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $185.05 and its 200 day moving average is $193.44.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its quarterly 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 firm had revenue of $2.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.46 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 17.05% and a net margin of 11.69%.The company’s revenue was up 15.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.56 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

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.