Marietta Wealth Management LLC Buys 13,388 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Marietta Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 28.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 60,812 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 13,388 shares during the quarter. Palo Alto Networks accounts for 1.5% of Marietta Wealth Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 20th biggest holding. Marietta Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $12,383,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

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

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $186.85 on Wednesday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $198.88 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $196.89. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1-year low of $144.15 and a 1-year high of $223.61. The company has a market cap of $130.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 118.26, a PEG ratio of 4.44 and a beta of 0.79.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.89 by $0.04. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 17.05% and a net margin of 11.69%.The business had revenue of $2.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.46 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.56 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 15.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently issued reports on PANW. 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 note on Thursday, November 20th. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $207.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 20th. Tigress Financial initiated coverage on Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Friday, September 26th. They set a “buy” rating and a $245.00 target price for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $235.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, December 17th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $220.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 13th. Thirty-one research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $226.20.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $188.18, for a total value of $940,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 155,119 shares in the company, valued at $29,190,293.42. This represents a 3.12% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $191.91, for a total transaction of $23,177,738.34. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 327,645 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $62,878,351.95. This represents a 26.93% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 381,222 shares of company stock worth $78,762,727. 1.40% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.