Prospera Financial Services Inc Has $11.26 Million Holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Prospera Financial Services Inc increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 13.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 55,278 shares of the network technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,762 shares during the quarter. Prospera Financial Services Inc’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $11,255,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Darwin Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the second quarter valued at about $25,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 6,400.0% during 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 during the period. Briaud Financial Planning Inc purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter worth about $28,000. Howard Hughes Medical Institute bought a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the second quarter valued at about $29,000. Finally, MTM Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter worth about $31,000. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Westpark Capital reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, November 20th. TD Cowen increased their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $230.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 13th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $245.00 price objective (up previously from $228.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Thursday, December 18th. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $265.00 price target (up from $230.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Monday, January 5th. Finally, Stephens boosted their price objective 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. Thirty-one investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $228.32.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PANW opened at $166.00 on Tuesday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $144.15 and a fifty-two week high of $223.61. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $184.61 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $193.20. The firm has a market cap of $115.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 105.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.80 and a beta of 0.75.

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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.89 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $2.47 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.46 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 17.05% and a net margin of 11.69%.Palo Alto Networks’s revenue was up 15.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.56 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 155,119 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,190,293.42. This represents a 3.12% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director James J. Goetz sold 12,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $195.33, for a total transaction of $2,441,625.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 75,184 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,685,690.72. This represents a 14.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 260,542 shares of company stock valued at $49,910,995 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks 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.