Walter Public Investments Inc. Raises Holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Walter Public Investments Inc. lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 30.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 19,730 shares of the network technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,630 shares during the period. Walter Public Investments Inc.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $6,744,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Sound Income Strategies LLC raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 352.6% in the 3rd quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 86 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 67 shares in the last quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC bought a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 1st quarter worth $25,000. First PREMIER Bank raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 48.4% in the 3rd quarter. First PREMIER Bank now owns 95 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 3,200.0% in the 1st quarter. Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 99 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Central Bank & Trust Co. raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 89.3% in the 1st quarter. Central Bank & Trust Co. now owns 106 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on PANW. TD Cowen upped their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $350.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Piper Sandler upped their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $300.00 to $330.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Truist Financial upped their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $350.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Rosenblatt Securities increased their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $300.00 to $345.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, August 19th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $350.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Monday, August 19th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $372.28.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 0.3 %

PANW opened at $373.23 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $346.63 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $321.63. The company has a market cap of $120.85 billion, a PE ratio of 54.25, a P/E/G ratio of 5.26 and a beta of 1.13. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52 week low of $233.81 and a 52 week high of $380.84.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 19th. The network technology company reported $1.51 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.41 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $2.19 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.16 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 26.83% and a net margin of 32.11%. The firm’s revenue was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.80 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 3.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $295.93, for a total transaction of $17,755,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 159,009 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $47,055,533.37. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 36,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $317.77, for a total value of $11,439,720.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 1,187,567 shares in the company, valued at $377,373,165.59. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $295.93, for a total value of $17,755,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 159,009 shares in the company, valued at approximately $47,055,533.37. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 351,452 shares of company stock valued at $118,643,279. Corporate insiders own 3.30% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Profile

Palo Alto Networks, Inc provides cybersecurity solutions worldwide. The company offers firewall appliances and software; and Panorama, a security management solution for the global control of network security platform as a virtual or a physical appliance. It also provides subscription services covering the areas of threat prevention, malware and persistent threat, URL filtering, laptop and mobile device protection, DNS security, Internet of Things security, SaaS security API, and SaaS security inline, as well as threat intelligence, and data loss prevention.