Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. Acquires 28,140 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 33.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 113,521 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 28,140 shares during the quarter. Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $23,151,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of PANW. Klingman & Associates LLC lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. Klingman & Associates LLC now owns 2,131 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $434,000 after acquiring an additional 46 shares during the period. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,742 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $558,000 after buying an additional 48 shares during the period. Mattern Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. Mattern Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,692 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $345,000 after buying an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. PTM Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 4.0% in the third quarter. PTM Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,300 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $276,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the period. Finally, Arlington Trust Co LLC increased its position in Palo Alto Networks by 4.8% during the third quarter. Arlington Trust Co LLC now owns 1,088 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $222,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,768 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $191.03, for a total transaction of $23,070,311.04. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 298,887 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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 is available at the SEC website. Also, Director James J. Goetz sold 22,684 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $164.41, for a total value of $3,729,476.44. Following the transaction, the director owned 52,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,631,525. This represents a 30.17% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders sold 149,252 shares of company stock worth $27,888,535. 1.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PANW has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $240.00 to $220.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Argus upgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 20th. Stephens boosted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. Needham & Company LLC reduced their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $230.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, December 15th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have issued a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $210.19.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 0.7%

PANW opened at $167.01 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $136.28 billion, a PE ratio of 92.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.03 and a beta of 0.78. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $169.84 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $189.50. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52 week low of $139.57 and a 52 week high of $223.61.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 18th. The network technology company reported $1.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.94 by $0.09. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 17.60% and a net margin of 12.96%.The firm had revenue of $2.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.58 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.81 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 14.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect 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.