Twin Capital Management Inc. Takes $1.19 Million Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Twin Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm bought 5,850 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,191,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter worth $675,865,000. ABN AMRO Bank N.V. purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter valued at $340,883,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 2.0% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 64,016,374 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $13,100,311,000 after purchasing an additional 1,240,830 shares in the last quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 97.9% during the 2nd quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 2,104,939 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $430,755,000 after purchasing an additional 1,041,145 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 3,881.4% during the 3rd quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 721,157 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $146,842,000 after purchasing an additional 703,044 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

NASDAQ PANW opened at $159.32 on Friday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1 year low of $144.15 and a 1 year high of $223.61. The company has a market capitalization of $111.05 billion, a PE ratio of 100.84, a P/E/G ratio of 3.80 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a fifty day moving average of $185.05 and a two-hundred day moving average of $193.48.

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

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 800 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.81, for a total value of $147,848.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 46,005 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,502,184.05. This represents a 1.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,768 shares of the firm’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 transaction, the executive vice president owned 298,887 shares in the company, valued at approximately $57,096,383.61. This trade represents a 28.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 260,542 shares of company stock worth $49,910,995 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PANW has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $235.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, December 17th. HSBC cut shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating and set a $157.00 price target for the company. in a report on Thursday, November 20th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $215.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 20th. Citigroup restated a “buy” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Monday, January 12th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $207.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 20th. Thirty-one investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target 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.