Bessemer Group Inc. Has $146.84 Million Stock Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 3,881.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 721,157 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 703,044 shares during the quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. owned 0.11% of Palo Alto Networks worth $146,842,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

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

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 7.2%

Shares of Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $154.77 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $107.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 97.96, a P/E/G ratio of 3.98 and a beta of 0.75. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $185.67 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $193.79. 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 announced its earnings results on Thursday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.04. The business 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.56 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on PANW shares. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday. HSBC lowered shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating and set a $157.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. Hsbc Global Res lowered shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. TD Cowen raised their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $230.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 13th. Finally, Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $225.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. Thirty-one research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $229.09.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director James J. Goetz sold 12,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $195.33, for a total value of $2,441,625.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 75,184 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,685,690.72. This trade represents a 14.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $188.18, for a total value of $940,900.00. Following the completion of 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 ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 260,542 shares of company stock worth $49,910,995 in the last three months. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

About Palo Alto Networks

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.