Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW Shares Purchased by ABN AMRO Bank N.V.

ABN AMRO Bank N.V. lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,709,588 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 53,588 shares during the period. Palo Alto Networks accounts for about 3.4% of ABN AMRO Bank N.V.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest holding. ABN AMRO Bank N.V. owned approximately 0.26% of Palo Alto Networks worth $346,850,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC increased its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 7,301 shares in the last quarter. Silver Oak Securities Incorporated grew its stake in 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 buying an additional 8,282 shares during the last quarter. GoalVest Advisory LLC increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1,248.9% during the third quarter. GoalVest Advisory LLC now owns 10,899 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $2,219,000 after buying an additional 10,091 shares in the last quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 7.9% in the second quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 2,234,551 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $457,279,000 after acquiring an additional 163,718 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Richmond Investment Services LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 87.2% in the 2nd quarter. Richmond Investment Services LLC now owns 3,286 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $672,000 after acquiring an additional 1,531 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 800 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.81, for a total value of $147,848.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 46,005 shares in the company, valued at $8,502,184.05. This trade represents a 1.71% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $191.91, for a total transaction of $23,177,738.34. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 327,645 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $62,878,351.95. This represents a 26.93% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last three months, insiders sold 260,542 shares of company stock worth $49,910,995. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on PANW shares. Evercore ISI raised their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $220.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 13th. UBS Group set a $215.00 price target on Palo Alto Networks and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. BTIG Research reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, December 17th. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $245.00 price objective (up previously from $228.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Thursday, December 18th. Finally, HSBC lowered shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating and set a $157.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. Thirty-one 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $229.09.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PANW opened at $166.72 on Thursday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $144.15 and a fifty-two week high of $223.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $116.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 105.52, a P/E/G ratio of 3.97 and a beta of 0.75. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $186.28 and its 200 day simple moving average is $194.06.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.04. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 11.69% and a return on equity of 17.05%. The company had revenue of $2.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.46 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.56 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current fiscal 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.