Baird Financial Group Inc. Has $105.80 Million Holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Baird Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 0.9% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 516,996 shares of the network technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,572 shares during the period. Baird Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $105,798,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 2.0% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 64,016,374 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $13,100,311,000 after acquiring an additional 1,240,830 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 1.1% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,174,029 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $3,093,262,000 after purchasing an additional 169,055 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 41.9% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 7,235,406 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,234,650,000 after purchasing an additional 2,134,735 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 16.0% in the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 6,902,048 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,177,765,000 after purchasing an additional 950,765 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 7.7% in the 2nd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 5,295,588 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,083,689,000 after buying an additional 377,496 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PANW has been the subject of several analyst reports. Barclays raised their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $215.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, November 10th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $232.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 12th. BTIG Research reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $248.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Monday, November 17th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $216.00 to $228.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 13th. Finally, Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $230.00 target price (up from $225.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, November 20th. Thirty analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $225.09.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 46,805 shares in the company, valued at $8,864,398.95. This represents a 1.47% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $217.94, for a total transaction of $26,321,485.56. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 356,409 shares in the company, valued at $77,675,777.46. This represents a 25.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 1,095,056 shares of company stock valued at $226,082,942. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 2.0%

Shares of NASDAQ PANW opened at $193.63 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $134.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 122.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.49 and a beta of 0.79. The business’s 50 day moving average is $206.19 and its 200-day moving average is $197.21. 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 issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.89 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $2.47 billion for 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 company’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.56 EPS. Analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current 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.