Voya Investment Management LLC Cuts Stock Holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Voya Investment Management LLC lowered its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,572,908 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 40,556 shares during the quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC owned 0.24% of Palo Alto Networks worth $320,276,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Darwin Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter worth $25,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 6,400.0% during the second quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 130 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 128 shares in the last quarter. Briaud Financial Planning Inc purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the second quarter worth about $28,000. Howard Hughes Medical Institute purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the second quarter worth about $29,000. Finally, MTM Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter worth about $31,000. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have commented on PANW shares. New Street Research lifted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $235.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 12th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 price target (up from $235.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Tuesday, November 11th. 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. HSBC cut Palo Alto Networks from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating and set a $157.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. Finally, Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $230.00 target price (up from $225.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. Thirty-one investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $226.20.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director James J. Goetz sold 12,500 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $195.33, for a total value of $2,441,625.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 75,184 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,685,690.72. The trade was a 14.26% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $189.39, for a total transaction of $132,573.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 46,805 shares in the company, valued at $8,864,398.95. The trade was a 1.47% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 1,228,330 shares of company stock valued at $251,702,305. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PANW opened at $185.88 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $129.56 billion, a PE ratio of 117.65, a P/E/G ratio of 4.34 and a beta of 0.79. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a one year low of $144.15 and a one year high of $223.61. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $202.39 and its 200-day moving average price is $197.37.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $2.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.46 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 17.05% and a net margin of 11.69%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.56 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Palo Alto Networks Company Profile

Palo Alto Networks, Inc provides cybersecurity solutions worldwide. The company offers firewall appliances and software; and Panorama, a security management solution for the global control of network security platform as a virtual or a physical appliance. It also provides subscription services covering the areas of threat prevention, malware and persistent threat, URL filtering, laptop and mobile device protection, DNS security, Internet of Things security, SaaS security API, and SaaS security inline, as well as threat intelligence, and data loss prevention.