OMC Financial Services LTD Invests $4.43 Million in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

OMC Financial Services LTD bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund bought 21,730 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,425,000. Palo Alto Networks makes up about 1.6% of OMC Financial Services LTD’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 18th biggest position.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of PANW. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.8% in the third quarter. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,742 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $558,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. Mattern Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 2.9% in the third quarter. Mattern Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,692 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $345,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. St. Clair Advisors LLC increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. St. Clair Advisors LLC now owns 15,800 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $3,233,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC. increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 2.1% in the 2nd quarter. Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC. now owns 2,467 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $496,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sequent Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter. Sequent Asset Management LLC now owns 1,306 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $266,000 after buying an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on PANW. Citigroup restated a “market outperform” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Monday, December 15th. HSBC downgraded 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $235.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, December 17th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $245.00 price objective (up previously from $228.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, December 18th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Monday, November 24th. Thirty-one research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $226.20.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 1.4%

Shares of NASDAQ PANW opened at $184.20 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $128.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 116.58, a P/E/G ratio of 4.39 and a beta of 0.79. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12 month low of $144.15 and a 12 month high of $223.61. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $197.70 and a 200-day moving average of $196.71.

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

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $217.94, for a total value of $26,321,485.56. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 356,409 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $77,675,777.46. This represents a 25.31% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s 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 sale, the executive vice president owned 155,119 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,190,293.42. This trade represents a 3.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 381,222 shares of company stock valued at $78,762,727 over the last three months. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

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.