Welch & Forbes LLC Has $30.04 Million Stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Welch & Forbes LLC grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 693.2% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 147,526 shares of the network technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 128,927 shares during the quarter. Welch & Forbes LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $30,039,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Darwin Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 6,400.0% during 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 during the period. Briaud Financial Planning Inc bought a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the second quarter worth $28,000. Howard Hughes Medical Institute acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter worth $29,000. Finally, MTM Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter valued at $31,000. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on PANW. Westpark Capital restated a “hold” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note 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. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $230.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $245.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, November 20th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, November 17th. Thirty-one equities 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 company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $229.09.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of PANW stock opened at $176.97 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $187.22 and a 200-day moving average of $194.58. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a one year low of $144.15 and a one year high of $223.61. The company has a market cap of $123.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 112.01, a P/E/G ratio of 4.20 and a beta of 0.76.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 business had revenue of $2.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.46 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 11.69% and a return on equity of 17.05%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.56 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director James J. Goetz sold 12,500 shares of the 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 directly owned 75,184 shares of the company’s stock, 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 legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 23rd. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $29,190,293.42. This represents a 3.12% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders sold 382,016 shares of company stock valued at $76,386,460. Insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

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.