Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW Shares Purchased by Phoenix Financial Ltd.

Phoenix Financial Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 746.6% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 461,097 shares of the network technology company’s stock after buying an additional 406,632 shares during the quarter. Palo Alto Networks comprises about 1.2% of Phoenix Financial Ltd.’s holdings, making the stock its 23rd biggest position. Phoenix Financial Ltd.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $93,892,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Darwin Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter valued at $25,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 6,400.0% during the second quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 130 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 128 shares in the last quarter. Briaud Financial Planning Inc acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter worth about $28,000. Howard Hughes Medical Institute acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter worth about $29,000. Finally, MTM Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the second quarter valued at approximately $31,000. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 2.2%

Shares of NASDAQ:PANW opened at $184.22 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $128.40 billion, a PE ratio of 116.59, a P/E/G ratio of 4.29 and a beta of 0.76. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1 year low of $144.15 and a 1 year high of $223.61. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $188.19 and a 200 day moving average price of $194.91.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $0.93 earnings per share 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 business’s quarterly revenue was up 15.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.56 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have issued reports on PANW shares. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $215.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 20th. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 14th. HSBC downgraded Palo Alto Networks from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating and set a $157.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $265.00 target price (up previously from $230.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Monday, January 5th. Finally, Stephens increased their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. Thirty-one analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $229.09.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Palo Alto Networks news, Director James J. Goetz sold 12,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $195.33, for a total transaction of $2,441,625.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 75,184 shares in the company, valued at $14,685,690.72. This trade represents a 14.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.81, for a total transaction of $147,848.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 46,005 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,502,184.05. This represents a 1.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 382,016 shares of company stock worth $76,386,460 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

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.