IFP Advisors Inc Buys 4,547 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

IFP Advisors Inc raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 19.3% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 28,137 shares of the network technology company’s stock after buying an additional 4,547 shares during the quarter. IFP Advisors Inc’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $5,729,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in PANW. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2.0% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 65,269,963 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $13,290,270,000 after acquiring an additional 1,253,589 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 29,736,916 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $6,055,031,000 after purchasing an additional 505,924 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,528,248 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,532,902,000 after purchasing an additional 36,511 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 11.5% during the 3rd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 5,906,963 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,202,776,000 after purchasing an additional 611,375 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in 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 valued at $916,099,000 after purchasing an additional 54,601 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,768 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 298,887 shares in the company, valued at $57,096,383.61. This trade represents a 28.78% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director James J. Goetz sold 22,684 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Friday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $164.41, for a total value of $3,729,476.44. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 52,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,631,525. The trade was a 30.17% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 149,252 shares of company stock valued at $27,888,535. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 0.5%

PANW opened at $169.74 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $138.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 93.78, a PEG ratio of 6.10 and a beta of 0.78. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $168.30 and a 200-day moving average price of $188.93. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a twelve month low of $139.57 and a twelve month high of $223.61.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 18th. The network technology company reported $1.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.94 by $0.09. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 12.96% and a return on equity of 17.60%. The company had revenue of $2.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.58 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.81 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 14.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PANW has been the topic of several analyst reports. Susquehanna dropped their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $230.00 to $200.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. New Street Research decreased their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $240.00 to $220.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 19th. Northland Securities upped their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $177.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $245.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. Finally, Argus raised Palo Alto Networks to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 20th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have assigned a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $210.19.

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.