Goodman Advisory Group LLC Acquires New Holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Goodman Advisory Group LLC bought a new position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund bought 14,468 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,633,000.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Palo Alto Networks by 104.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 61,233,907 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $11,142,122,000 after buying an additional 31,281,359 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 87.8% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,382,116 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $2,611,013,000 after acquiring an additional 6,725,148 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $970,736,000. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 83.0% in the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 5,759,689 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,048,033,000 after purchasing an additional 2,612,474 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 86.9% during the fourth quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 4,775,171 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $868,890,000 after purchasing an additional 2,220,130 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.41, for a total transaction of $16,541,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 3,543,516 shares in the company, valued at approximately $586,132,981.56. This represents a 2.74 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 99,707 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $182.45, for a total value of $18,191,542.15. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 358,197 shares in the company, valued at $65,353,042.65. This represents a 21.77 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 1,039,318 shares of company stock worth $181,925,602. Company insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on PANW. Truist Financial dropped their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $213.00 to $205.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 31st. Scotiabank boosted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. StockNews.com downgraded Palo Alto Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 24th. BTIG Research downgraded Palo Alto Networks from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Citigroup raised their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $205.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $203.06.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PANW opened at $167.69 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $180.61 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $184.71. The company has a market capitalization of $111.03 billion, a PE ratio of 94.47, a PEG ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.07. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52 week low of $137.60 and a 52 week high of $208.39.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.06. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 21.93% and a net margin of 14.64%. The business had revenue of $2.26 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.24 billion. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

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.