Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW Shares Bought by Railway Pension Investments Ltd

Railway Pension Investments Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 104.1% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 921,506 shares of the network technology company’s stock after buying an additional 470,100 shares during the period. Palo Alto Networks makes up about 2.5% of Railway Pension Investments Ltd’s portfolio, making the stock its 10th biggest holding. Railway Pension Investments Ltd’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $187,637,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC increased its position in Palo Alto Networks by 29.4% in the third quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 32,155 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $6,547,000 after buying an additional 7,301 shares during the period. Strive Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 16.6% during 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 last quarter. Silver Oak Securities Incorporated increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 240.1% in the 3rd quarter. Silver Oak Securities Incorporated now owns 11,732 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $2,389,000 after acquiring an additional 8,282 shares during the period. Schroder Investment Management Group lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 7.9% in 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 purchasing an additional 163,718 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Richmond Investment Services LLC lifted its position 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 purchasing an additional 1,531 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, Director James J. Goetz sold 12,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $195.33, for a total value of $2,441,625.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 75,184 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,685,690.72. This represents a 14.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the firm’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 sale, the executive vice president directly owned 155,119 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,190,293.42. This represents a 3.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 260,448 shares of company stock worth $53,168,301. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PANW has been the topic of several analyst reports. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $207.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 20th. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $220.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 13th. Bank of America increased their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $215.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 20th. Finally, JMP Securities raised their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $212.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 27th. Thirty-one research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $226.20.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

PANW opened at $179.37 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $125.02 billion, a PE ratio of 113.53, a P/E/G ratio of 4.28 and a beta of 0.76. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $196.95 and its 200-day moving average is $196.52. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a one year low of $144.15 and a one year high of $223.61.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates 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 firm had revenue of $2.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.46 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.56 earnings per share. Palo Alto Networks’s revenue was up 15.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.