Avity Investment Management Inc. Increases Stock Holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Avity Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 4.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 190,120 shares of the network technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 8,429 shares during the period. Palo Alto Networks accounts for approximately 2.7% of Avity Investment Management Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 17th biggest holding. Avity Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $38,712,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Klingman & Associates LLC boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. Klingman & Associates LLC now owns 2,131 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $434,000 after purchasing an additional 46 shares in the last quarter. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 1.8% in the third quarter. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,742 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $558,000 after buying an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. Mattern Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 2.9% in the third quarter. Mattern Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,692 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $345,000 after buying an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. PTM Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 4.0% in the third quarter. PTM Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,300 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $276,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the period. Finally, Arlington Trust Co LLC lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 4.8% in the third quarter. Arlington Trust Co LLC now owns 1,088 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $222,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have weighed in on PANW shares. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $220.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $245.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. Barclays set a $200.00 price target on Palo Alto Networks and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 9th. Arete Research upgraded Palo Alto Networks from a “sell” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $185.00 price objective for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Finally, Northland Securities raised their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $177.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have given a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $210.19.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director James J. Goetz sold 22,684 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the 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 in the company, valued at $29,190,293.42. This trade represents a 3.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders sold 149,252 shares of company stock valued at $27,888,535. Insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 1.0%

Shares of PANW opened at $169.19 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $138.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 93.48, a P/E/G ratio of 6.05 and a beta of 0.78. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $169.22 and its 200-day moving average price is $189.20. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52 week low of $139.57 and a 52 week high of $223.61.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 18th. The network technology company reported $1.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.94 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $2.59 billion during 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%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.81 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate 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.