Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich Cuts Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Key Points

• Bank Julius Baer cut its Palo Alto Networks stake by 4.9% in the fourth quarter, selling 45,602 shares and ending with 886,728 shares valued at about $163.7 million.
• Insider activity was mixed: Director John P. Key sold shares, while CEO Nikesh Arora bought 68,085 shares worth nearly $10 million.
• Palo Alto Networks beat quarterly earnings expectations, and analysts remain mostly positive with a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $212.09.

Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich cut its stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 4.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 886,728 shares of the network technology company's stock after selling 45,602 shares during the period. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich owned about 0.13% of Palo Alto Networks worth $163,674,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PANW. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the third quarter worth $75,412,000. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 134.1% in the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 672,129 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $136,859,000 after purchasing an additional 384,985 shares during the last quarter. US Bancorp DE lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 0.6% in the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 1,364,442 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $277,828,000 after purchasing an additional 8,344 shares during the last quarter. Generali Investments Management Co LLC lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 38.4% in the third quarter. Generali Investments Management Co LLC now owns 54,401 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $11,077,000 after purchasing an additional 15,091 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Oak Thistle LLC bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the fourth quarter worth $1,554,000. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, Director John P. Key sold 1,572 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $173.32, for a total value of $272,459.04. Following the sale, the director directly owned 20,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,466,400. This trade represents a 7.29% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora acquired 68,085 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 27th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $146.87 per share, for a total transaction of $9,999,643.95. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 343,394 shares in the company, valued at approximately $50,434,276.78. The trade was a 24.73% increase in their position. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders sold 30,356 shares of company stock worth $4,981,575. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have weighed in on PANW shares. Truist Financial reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $220.00 price target (up from $205.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $200.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Needham & Company LLC lowered their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $230.00 to $200.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. DA Davidson set a $190.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Finally, UBS Group set a $183.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-six have assigned a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $212.09.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of PANW stock opened at $227.79 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $185.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 125.85, a P/E/G ratio of 7.77 and a beta of 0.77. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $139.57 and a fifty-two week high of $228.85. The business's 50 day moving average price is $171.48 and its 200-day moving average price is $180.69.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 18th. The network technology company reported $1.03 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.94 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $2.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.58 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 17.60% and a net margin of 12.96%.The business's quarterly revenue was up 14.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.81 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.14 EPS for the current 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.

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