GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC Has $10.67 Million Stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 10.1% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 52,388 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,789 shares during the period. Palo Alto Networks makes up about 1.1% of GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 19th largest holding. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $10,667,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in PANW. Klingman & Associates LLC boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2.2% in the third quarter. Klingman & Associates LLC now owns 2,131 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $434,000 after buying an additional 46 shares during the period. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,742 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $558,000 after acquiring an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. Mattern Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter. Mattern Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,692 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $345,000 after acquiring an additional 48 shares during the period. Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC. lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2.1% during the 2nd quarter. Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC. now owns 2,467 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $496,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the period. Finally, PTM Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 4.0% during the 3rd quarter. PTM Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,300 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $276,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on PANW. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $232.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 12th. Stephens boosted their target price 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. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $245.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, November 20th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $225.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Monday, November 24th. Thirty-one equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $229.09.

Insider Transactions 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 stock was sold at an average price of $217.94, for a total value of $26,321,485.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 356,409 shares in the company, valued at approximately $77,675,777.46. This trade represents a 25.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 800 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated 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. The trade was a 1.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 382,016 shares of company stock worth $76,386,460 in the last 90 days. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

PANW stock opened at $183.74 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $128.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 116.29, a P/E/G ratio of 4.37 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $187.52 and a 200 day simple moving average of $194.80. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1 year low of $144.15 and a 1 year high of $223.61.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $2.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.46 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.56 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 15.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.