Clear Street Group Inc. Makes New Investment in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Clear Street Group Inc. acquired a new position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 26,633 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,423,000.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Darwin Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Howard Hughes Medical Institute purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the second quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Winch Advisory Services LLC lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 96.1% during the third quarter. Winch Advisory Services LLC now owns 149 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 73 shares in the last quarter. MTM Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter worth approximately $31,000. Finally, Caitlin John LLC bought a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the third quarter worth approximately $31,000. 79.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $188.18, for a total transaction of $940,900.00. Following the sale, 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,768 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $191.03, for a total transaction of $23,070,311.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 298,887 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $57,096,383.61. This trade represents a 28.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 149,252 shares of company stock valued at $27,888,535 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PANW has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $185.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Robert W. Baird set a $220.00 price target on Palo Alto Networks and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Stephens raised their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 20th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $230.00 to $200.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $240.00 to $224.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have given a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $210.19.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

PANW opened at $167.01 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $136.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 92.27, a PEG ratio of 6.03 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a fifty day moving average of $169.84 and a 200 day moving average of $189.50. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $139.57 and a fifty-two week high of $223.61.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 18th. The network technology company reported $1.03 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.94 by $0.09. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 12.96% and a return on equity of 17.60%. The business had revenue of $2.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.58 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.81 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 14.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

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.