ZEGA Investments LLC Lowers Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

ZEGA Investments LLC reduced its holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 45.5% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,846 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 4,875 shares during the quarter. ZEGA Investments LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $1,190,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of PANW. Darwin Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter valued at $25,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 6,400.0% in the 2nd quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 130 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 128 shares in the last quarter. Briaud Financial Planning Inc bought a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter valued at about $28,000. Howard Hughes Medical Institute purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter valued at about $29,000. Finally, MTM Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $31,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PANW opened at $188.88 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $131.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 119.54, a P/E/G ratio of 4.51 and a beta of 0.76. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $193.23 and a 200-day moving average price of $195.96. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52-week low of $144.15 and a 52-week high of $223.61.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 11.69% and a return on equity of 17.05%. 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 company earned $1.56 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 15.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PANW has been the topic of several research reports. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $220.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 13th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $215.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 10th. Northland Securities upped their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $177.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $245.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, November 20th. Finally, BTIG Research restated a “buy” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, December 17th. Thirty-one equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $227.86.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director James J. Goetz sold 12,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $195.33, for a total value of $2,441,625.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 75,184 shares in the company, valued at $14,685,690.72. The trade was a 14.26% 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, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 800 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 382,016 shares of company stock valued at $76,386,460 in the last quarter. 1.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.