Moody Lynn & Lieberson LLC Sells 15,777 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Moody Lynn & Lieberson LLC reduced its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 39.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 24,096 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 15,777 shares during the period. Moody Lynn & Lieberson LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $4,906,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 29.4% during the 3rd quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 32,155 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $6,547,000 after purchasing an additional 7,301 shares during the last quarter. Strive Asset Management LLC increased its position in Palo Alto Networks by 16.6% during the first quarter. Strive Asset Management LLC now owns 2,099 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $358,000 after buying an additional 299 shares during the last quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 7.9% in the second quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 2,234,551 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $457,279,000 after buying an additional 163,718 shares during the period. Richmond Investment Services LLC lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 87.2% during the 2nd quarter. Richmond Investment Services LLC now owns 3,286 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $672,000 after purchasing an additional 1,531 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Panagora Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 4,524.0% during the second quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 547,944 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $112,131,000 after purchasing an additional 536,094 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 23rd. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at $29,190,293.42. The trade was a 3.12% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $189.39, for a total transaction of $132,573.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 46,805 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,864,398.95. The trade was a 1.47% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders sold 381,222 shares of company stock valued at $78,762,727. 1.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PANW has been the subject of a number of research reports. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $215.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 10th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $207.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 20th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 target price (up previously from $235.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday, November 11th. New Street Research boosted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $235.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 12th. Finally, UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $220.00 target price (down previously from $230.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, November 20th. Thirty-one analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $226.20.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

PANW opened at $186.85 on Wednesday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $144.15 and a fifty-two week high of $223.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $130.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 118.26, a PEG ratio of 4.44 and a beta of 0.79. The company’s 50-day moving average is $198.88 and its 200 day moving average is $196.89.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $2.47 billion for 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 company’s quarterly revenue was up 15.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.56 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

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.