Spire Wealth Management Grows Stock Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Spire Wealth Management boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 14.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 57,334 shares of the network technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,396 shares during the period. Spire Wealth Management’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $10,561,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Darwin Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter valued at $25,000. Howard Hughes Medical Institute acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter valued at $29,000. Winch Advisory Services LLC grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 96.1% during the 3rd quarter. Winch Advisory Services LLC now owns 149 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 73 shares during the period. Painted Porch Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 72.7% during the 3rd quarter. Painted Porch Advisors LLC now owns 152 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 64 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Caitlin John LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 3rd quarter worth about $31,000. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

NASDAQ PANW opened at $147.02 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $119.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 81.23, a P/E/G ratio of 5.30 and a beta of 0.78. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $164.41 and a two-hundred day moving average of $187.36. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1-year low of $139.57 and a 1-year high of $223.61.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its quarterly 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 business had revenue of $2.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.58 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.81 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 14.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on PANW. Arete Research raised shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “sell” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $185.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $185.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $220.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $240.00 to $224.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Two 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 MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $210.19.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 800 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 2nd. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $8,502,184.05. This represents a 1.71% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora purchased 68,085 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 27th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $146.87 per share, with a total value of $9,999,643.95. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 343,394 shares in the company, valued at $50,434,276.78. This trade represents a 24.73% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 144,252 shares of company stock valued at $26,947,635 in the last quarter. Corporate 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.