Advisors Management Group Inc. ADV Acquires 5,894 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Advisors Management Group Inc. ADV grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 32.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 23,894 shares of the network technology company’s stock after buying an additional 5,894 shares during the quarter. Advisors Management Group Inc. ADV’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $4,865,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of PANW. Darwin Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the second quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Howard Hughes Medical Institute acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter valued at $29,000. Winch Advisory Services LLC boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 96.1% during the third quarter. Winch Advisory Services LLC now owns 149 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 73 shares during the period. Caitlin John LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 3rd quarter worth about $31,000. Finally, Painted Porch Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 72.7% during the 3rd quarter. Painted Porch Advisors LLC now owns 152 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 64 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. UBS Group set a $183.00 target price on Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $225.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. New Street Research dropped their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $240.00 to $220.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 19th. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Finally, Argus raised shares of Palo Alto Networks to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 20th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have assigned a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $210.19.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director James J. Goetz sold 22,684 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $164.41, for a total value of $3,729,476.44. Following the transaction, the director owned 52,500 shares in the company, valued at $8,631,525. The trade was a 30.17% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, 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 transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 298,887 shares in the company, valued at $57,096,383.61. This represents a 28.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 149,252 shares of company stock valued at $27,888,535 over the last three months. 1.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 0.2%

Shares of PANW opened at $168.91 on Thursday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $168.72 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $189.06. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12-month low of $139.57 and a 12-month high of $223.61. The stock has a market cap of $137.83 billion, a PE ratio of 93.32, a PEG ratio of 6.11 and a beta of 0.78.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 18th. The network technology company reported $1.03 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.94 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $2.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.58 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 12.96% and a return on equity of 17.60%. The firm’s revenue was up 14.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.81 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.

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.