Meridiem Capital Partners LP Boosts Holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Key Points

• Meridiem Capital Partners increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 114.1% in Q3 to 88,616 shares, worth about $18.04 million after buying an additional 47,220 shares.
• Several large institutions also moved in: Norges Bank and ABN AMRO initiated multi‑hundred‑million dollar positions, Vanguard now owns 65.27 million shares (~$13.29 billion), and overall institutional ownership stands at about 79.82%.
• Palo Alto Networks recently beat EPS estimates with revenue up 14.9% year‑over‑year; the stock traded around $169.22 (market cap ~$138.1B), and analysts have a consensus "Moderate Buy" with an average target of about $210.19.

Meridiem Capital Partners LP boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 114.1% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 88,616 shares of the network technology company's stock after acquiring an additional 47,220 shares during the period. Meridiem Capital Partners LP's holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $18,044,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $675,865,000. ABN AMRO Bank N.V. purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter valued at about $340,883,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 108.3% during the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,467,692 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $502,263,000 after purchasing an additional 1,282,738 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Finally, California Public Employees Retirement System raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 97.9% in the second quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 2,104,939 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $430,755,000 after buying an additional 1,041,145 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of PANW stock traded up $1.10 on Friday, hitting $169.22. 1,012,801 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 11,000,264. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1-year low of $139.57 and a 1-year high of $223.61. The company's fifty day moving average is $170.09 and its 200 day moving average is $189.59. The company has a market capitalization of $138.09 billion, a PE ratio of 93.41, a PEG ratio of 5.96 and a beta of 0.78.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly 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 company had revenue of $2.59 billion for 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 for the quarter was up 14.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.81 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PANW has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Argus raised shares of Palo Alto Networks to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, February 20th. Oppenheimer reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $245.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. Robert W. Baird set a $220.00 price target on Palo Alto Networks and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Citigroup reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $210.00 price objective (down from $235.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, February 19th. Finally, Scotiabank reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have given a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $210.19.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Palo Alto Networks news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 800 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.81, for a total transaction of $147,848.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 46,005 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $8,502,184.05. This trade represents a 1.71% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,768 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the executive vice president owned 298,887 shares of the company's stock, valued at $57,096,383.61. This trade represents a 28.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 149,252 shares of company stock valued at $27,888,535. 1.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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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