Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. Lowers Stock Holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. reduced its holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 194,219 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 4,114 shares during the period. Tocqueville Asset Management L.P.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $39,547,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC increased its stake in 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 buying an additional 7,301 shares in the last quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the third quarter valued at approximately $75,412,000. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 134.1% in the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 672,129 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $136,859,000 after acquiring an additional 384,985 shares during the last quarter. US Bancorp DE boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 0.6% in the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 1,364,442 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $277,828,000 after acquiring an additional 8,344 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Silver Oak Securities Incorporated increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 240.1% during the third quarter. Silver Oak Securities Incorporated now owns 11,732 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $2,389,000 after purchasing an additional 8,282 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director James J. Goetz sold 22,684 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $164.41, for a total transaction of $3,729,476.44. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 52,500 shares in the company, valued at $8,631,525. This trade represents a 30.17% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 800 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.81, for a total transaction of $147,848.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 46,005 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,502,184.05. The trade was a 1.71% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 149,252 shares of company stock valued at $27,888,535 over the last three months. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 0.7%

NASDAQ:PANW traded down $1.12 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $167.00. The company had a trading volume of 1,838,584 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,027,487. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1 year low of $139.57 and a 1 year high of $223.61. The company has a market cap of $136.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 92.16, a P/E/G ratio of 5.96 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a 50-day moving average of $170.09 and a 200 day moving average of $189.59.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 18th. The network technology company reported $1.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.94 by $0.09. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 12.96% and a return on equity of 17.60%. The firm had revenue of $2.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.58 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.81 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 14.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on PANW. Citizens Jmp restated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $250.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $265.00 target price (up from $230.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Monday, January 5th. Evercore increased their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $220.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 13th. New Street Research decreased their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $240.00 to $220.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Finally, Guggenheim restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have given a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $210.19.

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.