Welch & Forbes LLC Has $30.04 Million Stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Welch & Forbes LLC increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 693.2% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 147,526 shares of the network technology company’s stock after buying an additional 128,927 shares during the quarter. Welch & Forbes LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $30,039,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 2.0% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 64,016,374 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $13,100,311,000 after purchasing an additional 1,240,830 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,174,029 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $3,093,262,000 after buying an additional 169,055 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 7.7% during the 2nd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 5,295,588 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,083,689,000 after acquiring an additional 377,496 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.2% during the 2nd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,476,638 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $916,099,000 after acquiring an additional 54,601 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $675,865,000. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,768 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $191.03, for a total value of $23,070,311.04. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 298,887 shares in the company, valued at $57,096,383.61. This represents a 28.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $29,190,293.42. This represents a 3.12% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 382,016 shares of company stock worth $76,386,460. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PANW opened at $176.97 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $187.22 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $194.58. The stock has a market cap of $123.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 112.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.20 and a beta of 0.76. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52-week low of $144.15 and a 52-week high of $223.61.

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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.46 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 11.69% and a return on equity of 17.05%. Palo Alto Networks’s revenue was up 15.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.56 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Evercore ISI upped their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $220.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 13th. Hsbc Global Res downgraded Palo Alto Networks from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $265.00 price objective (up from $230.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Monday, January 5th. UBS Group set a $215.00 target price on Palo Alto Networks and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 13th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada increased their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $232.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 12th. Thirty-one investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $229.09.

Palo Alto Networks 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.