Cerity Partners LLC Increases Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Cerity Partners LLC lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 2.2% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 873,126 shares of the network technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 18,547 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $178,676,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PANW. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 1st quarter valued at $261,000. Strive Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 16.6% in the first quarter. Strive Asset Management LLC now owns 2,099 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $358,000 after acquiring an additional 299 shares during the period. Schroder Investment Management Group raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 7.9% in the second quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 2,234,551 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $457,279,000 after acquiring an additional 163,718 shares during the period. Richmond Investment Services LLC grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 87.2% during the 2nd quarter. Richmond Investment Services LLC now owns 3,286 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $672,000 after acquiring an additional 1,531 shares during the period. Finally, Oak Associates Ltd. OH acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter valued at about $904,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 46,805 shares in the company, valued at $8,864,398.95. This represents a 1.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $204.19, for a total value 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 approximately $19,629,805.65. This represents a 4.94% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 1,215,830 shares of company stock valued at $249,260,680. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 1.6%

Shares of PANW opened at $198.84 on Friday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52-week low of $144.15 and a 52-week high of $223.61. The stock has a market cap of $138.59 billion, a PE ratio of 125.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.70 and a beta of 0.79. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $205.98 and its two-hundred day moving average is $197.25.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its earnings results 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 business had revenue of $2.47 billion during 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 company’s quarterly revenue was up 15.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.56 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on PANW. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $216.00 to $228.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 13th. Scotiabank upped their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $228.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 19th. TD Cowen lifted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $230.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 13th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Tuesday, November 25th. Finally, Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $230.00 target price (up previously from $225.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. Thirty equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $225.09.

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.