FORA Capital LLC Makes New Investment in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Key Points

• FORA Capital LLC purchased a new stake of 7,866 shares in Palo Alto Networks during Q3, valued at about $1.60 million.
• Major institutions also moved: Vanguard increased to 65,269,963 shares (~$13.29B), First Trust and others added positions, and Norges Bank opened a new stake worth roughly $675.9M, leaving about 79.82% of the stock owned by institutions.
• Company insiders have been net sellers recently — EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,768 shares for about $23.07M, with insiders disposing of 149,252 shares (~$27.9M) in the last quarter and holding around 1.40% of the stock.

FORA Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 7,866 shares of the network technology company's stock, valued at approximately $1,602,000.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 65,269,963 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $13,290,270,000 after purchasing an additional 1,253,589 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP increased its position in Palo Alto Networks by 11.5% during the third quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 5,906,963 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $1,202,776,000 after buying an additional 611,375 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.2% in the second 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 during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 0.4% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 4,037,320 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $822,079,000 after acquiring an additional 17,394 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the second quarter valued at $675,865,000. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,768 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $191.03, for a total transaction of $23,070,311.04. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 298,887 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $57,096,383.61. This represents a 28.78% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders sold 149,252 shares of company stock worth $27,888,535. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

NASDAQ PANW opened at $167.01 on Friday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1-year low of $139.57 and a 1-year high of $223.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $136.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 92.27, a P/E/G ratio of 6.07 and a beta of 0.78. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $169.84 and its 200-day simple moving average is $189.47.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 18th. The network technology company reported $1.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.94 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $2.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.58 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 12.96% and a return on equity of 17.60%. The company's revenue was up 14.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.81 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently weighed in on PANW. Citizens Jmp reissued a "market outperform" rating and issued a $250.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $220.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Wolfe Research boosted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, December 15th. DA Davidson set a $190.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Finally, Northland Securities raised their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $177.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have assigned a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $210.19.

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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