Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW Shares Sold by Tran Capital Management L.P.

Tran Capital Management L.P. reduced its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 6.2% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 175,264 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 11,662 shares during the quarter. Palo Alto Networks comprises 4.3% of Tran Capital Management L.P.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest position. Tran Capital Management L.P.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $35,687,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 29.4% in the 3rd quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 32,155 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $6,547,000 after purchasing an additional 7,301 shares in the last quarter. Strive Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 299 shares in the last quarter. Silver Oak Securities Incorporated raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 240.1% in the third quarter. Silver Oak Securities Incorporated now owns 11,732 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $2,389,000 after buying an additional 8,282 shares in 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 in the last quarter. Finally, GoalVest Advisory LLC lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 1,248.9% during the 3rd quarter. GoalVest Advisory LLC now owns 10,899 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $2,219,000 after buying an additional 10,091 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of PANW opened at $193.98 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $135.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 122.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.43 and a beta of 0.76. 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 50-day simple moving average of $195.01 and a 200-day simple moving average of $196.29.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 firm had revenue of $2.47 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.46 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $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 year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PANW has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $245.00 target price (up previously from $228.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Thursday, December 18th. BTIG Research reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, December 17th. Citigroup restated a “market outperform” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Monday, December 15th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $232.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 12th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res lowered shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. Thirty-one analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $227.99.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director James J. Goetz sold 12,500 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $195.33, for a total value of $2,441,625.00. Following the sale, the director owned 75,184 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,685,690.72. The trade was a 14.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $188.18, for a total transaction of $940,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 155,119 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,190,293.42. The trade was a 3.12% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 261,248 shares of company stock valued at $53,316,149 in the last ninety days. Company 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.