Griffin Asset Management Inc. Buys Shares of 4,663 Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Griffin Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 4,663 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $949,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter valued at about $675,865,000. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter valued at about $633,068,000. ABN AMRO Bank N.V. purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $340,883,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2.0% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 64,016,374 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $13,100,311,000 after buying an additional 1,240,830 shares during the last quarter. Finally, California Public Employees Retirement System raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 97.9% during the 2nd quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 2,104,939 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $430,755,000 after acquiring an additional 1,041,145 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $211.92, for a total value of $25,594,426.08. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 149,190 shares in the company, valued at approximately $31,616,344.80. This represents a 44.74% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $189.39, for a total transaction of $132,573.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 46,805 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,864,398.95. The trade was a 1.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 376,922 shares of company stock worth $77,963,339. 1.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

NASDAQ PANW opened at $188.45 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $199.94 and its 200 day moving average price is $197.01. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1 year low of $144.15 and a 1 year high of $223.61. The company has a market cap of $131.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 119.27, a PEG ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.79.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.89 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $2.47 billion during 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 firm’s revenue was up 15.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.56 EPS. Research analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $230.00 target price (up previously from $225.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 17th. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $245.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, November 20th. Tigress Financial assumed coverage on Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Friday, September 26th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $245.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 target price (up from $235.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday, November 11th. Thirty-one equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $226.20.

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.