Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co Boosts Holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 8.7% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 112,776 shares of the network technology company’s stock after buying an additional 9,000 shares during the period. Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $22,963,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Brighton Jones LLC raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 147.7% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,761 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,230,000 after acquiring an additional 4,031 shares during the last quarter. Bison Wealth LLC boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 169.1% in the fourth quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 5,212 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $948,000 after acquiring an additional 3,275 shares during the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 66.3% during the second quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 3,484 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $713,000 after purchasing an additional 1,389 shares in the last quarter. Total Clarity Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter valued at $217,000. Finally, Verdence Capital Advisors LLC raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 5.3% in the 2nd quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,432 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $498,000 after purchasing an additional 122 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of PANW stock opened at $165.30 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $115.21 billion, a PE ratio of 104.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.95 and a beta of 0.75. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $183.56 and its two-hundred day moving average is $192.74. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12 month low of $144.15 and a 12 month high of $223.61.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $2.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.46 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 11.69% and a return on equity of 17.05%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.56 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have issued reports on PANW. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $240.00 target price (up previously from $236.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $235.00 to $225.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. HSBC lowered shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating and set a $157.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. Mizuho set a $220.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday, December 16th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Thirty-one investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $225.38.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director James J. Goetz sold 12,500 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 75,184 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,685,690.72. This represents a 14.26% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $191.91, for a total value of $23,177,738.34. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 327,645 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $62,878,351.95. The trade was a 26.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 260,542 shares of company stock valued at $49,910,995. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.