Covea Finance Purchases 9,665 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Covea Finance increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 6.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 166,000 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 9,665 shares during the period. Palo Alto Networks makes up about 1.2% of Covea Finance’s portfolio, making the stock its 26th biggest holding. Covea Finance’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $33,801,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the second quarter worth $675,865,000. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC bought a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the second quarter worth about $633,068,000. ABN AMRO Bank N.V. acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter worth about $340,883,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 2.0% in 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 purchasing an additional 1,240,830 shares in the last quarter. Finally, California Public Employees Retirement System boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 97.9% in the 2nd quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 2,104,939 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $430,755,000 after purchasing an additional 1,041,145 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $191.91, for a total transaction of $23,177,738.34. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 327,645 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $62,878,351.95. The trade was a 26.93% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, 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 completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly 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 position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders have sold 376,922 shares of company stock valued at $77,963,339. 1.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of PANW opened at $186.95 on Friday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52-week low of $144.15 and a 52-week high of $223.61. The firm has a market cap of $130.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 118.32, a PEG ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.79. The business’s fifty day moving average is $200.32 and its 200-day moving average is $197.06.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Stephens raised their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 20th. Tigress Financial initiated coverage on Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Friday, September 26th. They set a “buy” rating and a $245.00 price target on the stock. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Monday. Northland Securities upped their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $177.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. Finally, Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $230.00 price target (up previously from $225.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. Thirty-one analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $226.20.

Palo Alto Networks 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.