Covea Finance Increases Stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Covea Finance increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 3.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 171,900 shares of the network technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,900 shares during the period. Covea Finance’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $31,664,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of PANW. Private Client Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 4th quarter valued at $412,000. Riversedge Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 30.0% in the 4th quarter. Riversedge Advisors LLC now owns 1,667 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $307,000 after buying an additional 385 shares during the period. MFG Wealth Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 33.4% in the 4th quarter. MFG Wealth Management Inc. now owns 15,113 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $2,784,000 after buying an additional 3,782 shares during the period. Everhart Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 11.8% in the fourth quarter. Everhart Financial Group Inc. now owns 8,157 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,503,000 after acquiring an additional 864 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Iowa State Bank boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Iowa State Bank now owns 20,834 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $3,838,000 after acquiring an additional 327 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 155,119 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,190,293.42. This represents a 3.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,768 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $191.03, for a total transaction of $23,070,311.04. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly 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 disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders sold 149,252 shares of company stock valued at $27,888,535. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have commented on PANW. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $200.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $240.00 to $220.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. DA Davidson set a $190.00 target price on Palo Alto Networks and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Finally, HSBC cut their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $157.00 to $114.00 in a report on Thursday, February 19th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have given a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $210.19.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

PANW stock opened at $162.95 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $132.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 90.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.13 and a beta of 0.78. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1 year low of $139.57 and a 1 year high of $223.61. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $167.77 and a 200-day simple moving average of $188.73.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its quarterly 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 firm had revenue of $2.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.58 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 17.60% and a net margin of 12.96%.Palo Alto Networks’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.81 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.

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.