31,260 Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW Shares Sold by Heritage Investors Management Corp

Key Points

• Heritage Investors Management Corp. reduced its Palo Alto Networks stake by 5.7%, selling 31,260 shares in the third quarter and retaining 518,536 shares valued at approximately $206 million. Institutional investors collectively own 79.82% of the company.
• Analyst sentiment remains positive, with 39 Buy ratings and 11 Hold ratings; Palo Alto Networks has a “Moderate Buy” consensus rating and an average price target of $398.55.
• Palo Alto Networks reported quarterly EPS of $1.02, beating estimates by $0.04, while revenue rose 34.5% year over year to $3.41 billion. Meanwhile, insiders sold 54,210 shares worth approximately $20.8 million over the past 90 days.

Heritage Investors Management Corp cut its stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 5.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 518,536 shares of the network technology company's stock after selling 31,260 shares during the period. Palo Alto Networks comprises approximately 5.8% of Heritage Investors Management Corp's portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest position. Heritage Investors Management Corp owned about 0.06% of Palo Alto Networks worth $206,020,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. B&D White Capital Company LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 1st quarter valued at $353,000. Bridgewater Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter worth $2,159,000. Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.6% in the third quarter. Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. now owns 240,029 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $95,366,000 after buying an additional 3,700 shares during the period. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 126.6% during the 3rd quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. now owns 18,600 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $7,390,000 after buying an additional 10,392 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Evelyn Partners Investment Management Services Ltd raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 31.5% during the 1st quarter. Evelyn Partners Investment Management Services Ltd now owns 14,641 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $2,347,000 after buying an additional 3,505 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Capital One Financial raised their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $421.00 to $428.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Phillip Securities cut shares of Palo Alto Networks from a "moderate buy" rating to a "hold" rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $320.00 to $346.00 in a research report on Monday, September 7th. Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and upped their price objective for the company from $253.00 to $351.00 in a research note on Thursday, September 17th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $450.00 target price (up from $335.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Friday, August 28th. Finally, Northland Securities set a $360.00 target price on Palo Alto Networks and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 2nd. Thirty-nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $398.55.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 400 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $395.70, for a total value of $158,280.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 77,987 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $30,859,455.90. This represents a 0.51% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 27,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $391.60, for a total value of $10,769,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 117,750 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $46,110,900. The trade was a 18.93% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 54,210 shares of company stock worth $20,823,029. Insiders own 0.55% of the company's stock.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of PANW opened at $365.87 on Monday. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $372.15 and its 200-day moving average price is $269.89. The firm has a market capitalization of $299.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 717.41, a PEG ratio of 10.49 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1-year low of $139.57 and a 1-year high of $432.33.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, September 1st. The network technology company reported $1.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.98 by $0.04. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 2.67% and a return on equity of 8.50%. The company had revenue of $3.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.35 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.95 earnings per share. Palo Alto Networks's quarterly revenue was up 34.5% on a year-over-year basis. Palo Alto Networks has set its FY 2027 guidance at 4.160-4.190 EPS and its Q1 2027 guidance at 0.960-0.980 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.32 EPS for the current year.

Palo Alto Networks Company Profile

Palo Alto Networks, Inc NASDAQ: PANW is a global cybersecurity company that helps organizations protect networks, cloud environments, endpoints, and digital infrastructure. Its offerings are designed to prevent cyberattacks, identify security risks, monitor activity, and support incident response across enterprise, government, and service-provider environments.

The company's portfolio includes network security products such as next-generation firewalls and security operations tools; Prisma, its cloud security platform; and Cortex, a suite focused on endpoint protection, threat detection, security analytics, and automated response.

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