Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW Shares Acquired by Spire Wealth Management

Key Points

• Spire Wealth Management increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 14.8% in Q4 to 57,334 shares (worth about $10.56M), and institutional investors now own roughly 79.82% of the company with large positions from Norges Bank, Victory Capital, Vanguard and CalPERS.
• Insider selling accelerated recently—insiders sold 144,252 shares (~$26.95M) last quarter, including EVP Lee Klarich's sale of 120,768 shares (~$23.07M) that cut his stake by 28.78%.
• Palo Alto beat Q results (EPS $1.03 vs. $0.94; revenue $2.59B, +14.9% YoY), has a market cap of about $119.97B, and carries a consensus analyst rating of "Moderate Buy" with an average target of $210.19.

Spire Wealth Management lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 14.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 57,334 shares of the network technology company's stock after purchasing an additional 7,396 shares during the period. Spire Wealth Management's holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $10,561,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter valued at about $675,865,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in 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 buying an additional 1,282,738 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised 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 valued at $13,290,270,000 after acquiring an additional 1,253,589 shares during the last quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 97.9% during 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 acquiring an additional 1,041,145 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the third quarter valued at approximately $162,161,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 800 shares of the business'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. The trade was a 1.71% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,768 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 $57,096,383.61. This represents a 28.78% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 144,252 shares of company stock worth $26,947,635 in the last quarter. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

PANW stock opened at $147.02 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 $119.97 billion, a PE ratio of 81.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.30 and a beta of 0.78. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $164.41 and a 200-day simple moving average of $187.36.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 18th. The network technology company reported $1.03 EPS 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 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 firm's revenue was up 14.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.81 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on PANW. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $223.00 price target (down from $245.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Argus raised Palo Alto Networks to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, February 20th. Wolfe Research raised their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, December 15th. BTIG Research reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $200.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Finally, Truist Financial set a $200.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. Two equities 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average 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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