Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. Sells 3,988 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. cut its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 1.8% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 220,198 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 3,988 shares during the period. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $44,849,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Darwin Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the second quarter valued at $25,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC boosted its stake 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 worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 128 shares during the period. Briaud Financial Planning Inc purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter worth about $28,000. Howard Hughes Medical Institute bought a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter valued at about $29,000. Finally, MTM Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter worth about $31,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

NASDAQ PANW opened at $180.18 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $125.59 billion, a PE ratio of 114.04, a P/E/G ratio of 4.34 and a beta of 0.76. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $188.56 and its 200-day moving average price is $195.10. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52-week low of $144.15 and a 52-week high of $223.61.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $2.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.46 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.56 earnings per share. Palo Alto Networks’s revenue was up 15.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the 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 directly owned 155,119 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,190,293.42. This represents a 3.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,768 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $191.03, for a total transaction of $23,070,311.04. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 298,887 shares in the company, valued at $57,096,383.61. This represents a 28.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 382,016 shares of company stock worth $76,386,460 in the last three months. 1.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on PANW. TD Cowen upped their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $230.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 13th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $215.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 20th. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $207.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $230.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. Finally, UBS Group set a $215.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 13th. Thirty-one equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $229.09.

About Palo Alto Networks

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.