Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW Shares Purchased by Peak Retirement Planning Inc.

Peak Retirement Planning Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 42.9% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 11,613 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,485 shares during the period. Peak Retirement Planning Inc.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $2,365,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $675,865,000. ABN AMRO Bank N.V. bought a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter worth about $340,883,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2.0% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 64,016,374 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $13,100,311,000 after buying an additional 1,240,830 shares during the last quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 97.9% during the second quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 2,104,939 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $430,755,000 after buying an additional 1,041,145 shares during the period. Finally, Swedbank AB increased its position in Palo Alto Networks by 30.6% in the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 2,392,224 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $487,105,000 after acquiring an additional 560,540 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,768 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $191.03, for a total value of $23,070,311.04. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 298,887 shares in the company, valued at approximately $57,096,383.61. This represents a 28.78% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $188.18, for a total transaction of $940,900.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 155,119 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,190,293.42. The trade was a 3.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 260,542 shares of company stock worth $49,910,995 over the last three months. 1.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $235.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, December 17th. HSBC lowered shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating and set a $157.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $230.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, January 28th. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 14th. Finally, Citigroup reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Monday, January 12th. Thirty-one analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $229.09.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 0.9%

Shares of NASDAQ PANW opened at $175.42 on Tuesday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52-week low of $144.15 and a 52-week high of $223.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $122.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 111.03, a PEG ratio of 4.22 and a beta of 0.75. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $187.05 and its 200 day simple moving average is $194.46.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its quarterly 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. The firm had revenue of $2.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.46 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 17.05% and a net margin of 11.69%.Palo Alto Networks’s revenue was up 15.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.56 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

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.