Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW Shares Bought by Swedbank AB

Swedbank AB lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 17.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,820,955 shares of the network technology company’s stock after buying an additional 428,731 shares during the quarter. Swedbank AB’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $519,620,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in PANW. Brighton Jones LLC increased its position in Palo Alto Networks by 147.7% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,761 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,230,000 after acquiring an additional 4,031 shares during the period. Bison Wealth LLC increased its position in 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 valued at $948,000 after acquiring an additional 3,275 shares during the period. Sivia Capital Partners LLC increased its position in 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 valued at $713,000 after acquiring an additional 1,389 shares during the period. Osterweis Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 11,100.0% in the 2nd quarter. Osterweis Capital Management Inc. now owns 560 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $115,000 after purchasing an additional 555 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Main Street Financial Solutions LLC boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 6.0% in the 2nd quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC now owns 4,398 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $900,000 after purchasing an additional 249 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of PANW stock opened at $183.98 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $150.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 101.65, a PEG ratio of 6.65 and a beta of 0.77. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $164.16 and a 200 day moving average price of $180.84. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a twelve month low of $139.57 and a twelve month high of $223.61.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 18th. The network technology company reported $1.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.94 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $2.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.58 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 12.96% and a return on equity of 17.60%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 14.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.81 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “buy” rating and set a $225.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. UBS Group set a $183.00 price target on Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $209.00 price target on Palo Alto Networks and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Susquehanna decreased their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $230.00 to $200.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-six have given a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $210.84.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director James J. Goetz sold 22,684 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 directly owned 52,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,631,525. The trade was a 30.17% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.42, for a total transaction of $802,100.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 150,250 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,103,105. This trade represents a 3.22% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 30,356 shares of company stock worth $4,981,575 in the last three months. 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.