Savant Capital LLC Lowers Stock Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Savant Capital LLC cut its holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 33.4% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 23,029 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 11,552 shares during the quarter. Savant Capital LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $4,697,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Brighton Jones LLC grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 147.7% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,761 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,230,000 after purchasing an additional 4,031 shares during the period. Bison Wealth LLC boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 169.1% in the 4th quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 5,212 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $948,000 after purchasing an additional 3,275 shares in the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 66.3% in the 2nd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 3,484 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $713,000 after buying an additional 1,389 shares during the last quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System increased its position in Palo Alto Networks by 5.5% during the 2nd quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System now owns 31,927 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $6,534,000 after buying an additional 1,673 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Leo Wealth LLC raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 147.4% during the second quarter. Leo Wealth LLC now owns 5,372 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,099,000 after buying an additional 3,201 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 2.9%

PANW opened at $159.32 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $111.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 100.84, a PEG ratio of 3.69 and a beta of 0.75. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $185.05 and a 200-day moving average price of $193.51. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a twelve month low of $144.15 and a twelve month 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 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.89 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $2.47 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.46 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 11.69% and a return on equity of 17.05%. The firm’s revenue was up 15.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.56 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $225.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, November 20th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $215.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, November 10th. Northland Securities increased their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $177.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 20th. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 14th. Finally, DA Davidson set a $240.00 price objective on Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Friday, December 19th. Thirty-one research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $229.09.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.81, for a total transaction of $147,848.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 46,005 shares in the company, valued at $8,502,184.05. The trade was a 1.71% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director James J. Goetz sold 12,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $195.33, for a total transaction of $2,441,625.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 75,184 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,685,690.72. The trade was a 14.26% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 260,542 shares of company stock worth $49,910,995. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Palo Alto Networks 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.