GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC Purchases 4,789 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 10.1% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 52,388 shares of the network technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,789 shares during the quarter. Palo Alto Networks makes up about 1.1% of GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 19th largest position. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $10,667,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC raised its position in Palo Alto Networks by 29.4% in the 3rd quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 32,155 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $6,547,000 after buying an additional 7,301 shares during the last quarter. Silver Oak Securities Incorporated grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 240.1% during the 3rd quarter. Silver Oak Securities Incorporated now owns 11,732 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $2,389,000 after acquiring an additional 8,282 shares in the last quarter. GoalVest Advisory LLC grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1,248.9% during the 3rd quarter. GoalVest Advisory LLC now owns 10,899 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $2,219,000 after acquiring an additional 10,091 shares in the last quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 7.9% in the second quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 2,234,551 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $457,279,000 after purchasing an additional 163,718 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Richmond Investment Services LLC lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 87.2% in the second quarter. Richmond Investment Services LLC now owns 3,286 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $672,000 after purchasing an additional 1,531 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 0.1%

PANW opened at $183.74 on Thursday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12-month low of $144.15 and a 12-month high of $223.61. The business has a 50 day moving average of $187.52 and a 200-day moving average of $194.80. The stock has a market cap of $128.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 116.29, a PEG ratio of 4.37 and a beta of 0.76.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly 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. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 17.05% and a net margin of 11.69%.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 business earned $1.56 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PANW has been the topic of several analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $240.00 price target (up from $236.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Monday, December 29th. DA Davidson set a $240.00 price target on Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Friday, December 19th. Northland Securities raised their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $177.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $235.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, December 17th. Thirty-one investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $229.09.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, Director James J. Goetz sold 12,500 shares of the business’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 completion of the sale, the director owned 75,184 shares in the company, valued at $14,685,690.72. The trade was a 14.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, 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 position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 382,016 shares of company stock worth $76,386,460. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.