WCG Wealth Advisors LLC Reduces Stock Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

WCG Wealth Advisors LLC trimmed its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 25.0% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 11,561 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 3,846 shares during the period. WCG Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $2,366,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of PANW. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 1st quarter worth approximately $261,000. Strive Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 16.6% in the 1st quarter. Strive Asset Management LLC now owns 2,099 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $358,000 after buying an additional 299 shares in the last quarter. Richmond Investment Services LLC lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 87.2% in the 2nd quarter. Richmond Investment Services LLC now owns 3,286 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $672,000 after buying an additional 1,531 shares in the last quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 7.9% during the 2nd quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 2,234,551 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $457,279,000 after buying an additional 163,718 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Oak Associates Ltd. OH acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter valued at $904,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $232.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 12th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $220.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 13th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $225.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, November 20th. Truist Financial set a $220.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 19th. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $230.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 13th. Thirty investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $225.09.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $204.19, for a total transaction of $1,020,950.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 96,135 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,629,805.65. The trade was a 4.94% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $189.39, for a total value of $132,573.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 46,805 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,864,398.95. The trade was a 1.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 1,095,056 shares of company stock worth $226,082,942 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

PANW opened at $189.88 on Wednesday. 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 $206.33 and a two-hundred day moving average of $197.23. The stock has a market capitalization of $132.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 120.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.44 and a beta of 0.79.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its earnings results on Thursday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.04. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 11.69% and a return on equity of 17.05%. The business had revenue of $2.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.46 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.56 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 15.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

About Palo Alto Networks

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.