Cambria Investment Management L.P. Invests $3.26 Million in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Key Points

• Cambria Investment Management purchased a new stake of 16,007 shares of Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ: PANW) in the third quarter, valued at approximately $3.26 million according to its 13F filing.
• Institutional investors own about 79.82% of PANW, with major funds like Vanguard, State Street and First Trust materially increasing their stakes during the quarter.
• Palo Alto recently beat quarterly estimates (EPS $1.03 vs. $0.94; revenue $2.59B) and carries a consensus Moderate Buy rating with a $210.19 target, though insiders have sold roughly 149,252 shares (~$27.9M) in the past 90 days.

Cambria Investment Management L.P. purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 16,007 shares of the network technology company's stock, valued at approximately $3,259,000.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 2.0% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 65,269,963 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $13,290,270,000 after buying an additional 1,253,589 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.7% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 29,736,916 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $6,055,031,000 after acquiring an additional 505,924 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 0.5% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,528,248 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $1,532,902,000 after acquiring an additional 36,511 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 11.5% in the 3rd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 5,906,963 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $1,202,776,000 after acquiring an additional 611,375 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,476,638 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $916,099,000 after acquiring an additional 54,601 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company's stock.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 0.5%

Shares of PANW opened at $169.74 on Friday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1 year low of $139.57 and a 1 year high of $223.61. The stock has a market cap of $138.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 93.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.10 and a beta of 0.78. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $168.30 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $188.93.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 18th. The network technology company reported $1.03 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.94 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $2.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.58 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 17.60% and a net margin of 12.96%.Palo Alto Networks's revenue was up 14.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.81 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company assumed coverage on Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday, March 3rd. They set an "overweight" rating and a $200.00 price target for the company. Piper Sandler reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $265.00 price objective (up from $230.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Monday, January 5th. Rosenblatt Securities restated a "buy" rating and set a $225.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $209.00 price target on Palo Alto Networks and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Finally, TD Cowen reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have given a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $210.19.

Insider Activity

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $188.18, for a total value of $940,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director James J. Goetz sold 22,684 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $164.41, for a total transaction of $3,729,476.44. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 52,500 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,631,525. This trade represents a 30.17% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 149,252 shares of company stock worth $27,888,535 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company's stock.

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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