Main Street Research LLC Buys 21,306 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Key Points

• Main Street Research LLC increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 162.1% in Q3, buying 21,306 shares to hold 34,452 shares valued at about $7.02 million.
• Company insiders sold a total of 149,252 shares worth roughly $27.9 million last quarter — including EVP Dipak Golechha and Director James J. Goetz — leaving insiders with about 1.40% ownership.
• Palo Alto beat quarterly estimates with EPS of $1.03 (vs. $0.94) and revenue of $2.59B (vs. $2.58B), revenue was up 14.9% YoY, and analysts hold a Moderate Buy consensus with an average target of $210.19.

Main Street Research LLC lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 162.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 34,452 shares of the network technology company's stock after buying an additional 21,306 shares during the quarter. Main Street Research LLC's holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $7,015,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Darwin Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter valued at $25,000. Howard Hughes Medical Institute bought a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter valued at about $29,000. Winch Advisory Services LLC grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 96.1% during the third quarter. Winch Advisory Services LLC now owns 149 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 73 shares in the last quarter. MTM Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the second quarter valued at about $31,000. Finally, Caitlin John LLC purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the third quarter valued at about $31,000. 79.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $188.18, for a total transaction of $940,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 155,119 shares of the company's stock, valued at $29,190,293.42. The trade was a 3.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director James J. Goetz sold 22,684 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $164.41, for a total transaction of $3,729,476.44. Following the transaction, the director owned 52,500 shares in the company, valued at $8,631,525. This trade represents a 30.17% decrease in their position. 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 owned by company insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 0.7%

PANW opened at $167.01 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $169.84 and a 200 day moving average of $189.47. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12 month low of $139.57 and a 12 month high of $223.61. The firm has a market cap 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.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.94 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $2.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.58 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 17.60% and a net margin of 12.96%.The company's quarterly revenue was up 14.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.81 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on PANW shares. Wedbush reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $225.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Needham & Company LLC dropped their price target on 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. 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. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, February 4th. Finally, Northland Securities increased their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $177.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have given a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $210.19.

About Palo Alto Networks

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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