Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW Shares Sold by Woodard & Co. Asset Management Group Inc. ADV

Woodard & Co. Asset Management Group Inc. ADV lowered its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 79.3% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,138 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 8,176 shares during the quarter. Woodard & Co. Asset Management Group Inc. ADV’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $435,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

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

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of PANW opened at $181.47 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $126.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 114.85, a P/E/G ratio of 4.39 and a beta of 0.76. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1 year low of $144.15 and a 1 year high of $223.61. The company’s fifty day moving average is $189.51 and its two-hundred day moving average is $195.34.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $0.93 earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $2.47 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.46 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.56 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 15.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, 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 value of $940,900.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 155,119 shares in the company, valued at $29,190,293.42. The trade was a 3.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,768 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $191.03, for a total value of $23,070,311.04. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 298,887 shares in the company, valued at $57,096,383.61. This represents a 28.78% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 382,016 shares of company stock worth $76,386,460 over the last quarter. 1.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently issued reports on PANW shares. JMP Securities upped their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $212.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 27th. Mizuho set a $220.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday, December 16th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $245.00 price objective (up from $228.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Thursday, December 18th. Finally, Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $265.00 target price (up from $230.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Monday, January 5th. Thirty-one investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $229.09.

Palo Alto Networks Company Profile

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.