Kestra Investment Management LLC Acquires New Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Kestra Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 624 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $114,000.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 34,318.2% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,259,063 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,113,948,000 after purchasing an additional 3,249,594 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 83.0% in the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 5,759,689 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,048,033,000 after purchasing an additional 2,612,474 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 199.1% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,822,336 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $333,925,000 after buying an additional 1,213,073 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 107.8% during the 4th quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 1,634,701 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $297,450,000 after buying an additional 848,127 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 104.1% in the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 1,562,722 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $284,353,000 after buying an additional 796,964 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 3.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ:PANW opened at $198.81 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $131.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 112.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.96 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a 50 day moving average of $187.23 and a two-hundred day moving average of $182.84. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52-week low of $130.04 and a 52-week high of $208.39.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.75 by $0.06. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 14.64% and a return on equity of 21.93%. The business had revenue of $2.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.24 billion. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PANW has been the subject of several recent research reports. Northland Securities restated a “market perform” rating and set a $185.00 target price (up from $175.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Truist Financial raised their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $212.50 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Piper Sandler upped their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $165.00 to $192.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. OTR Global reissued a “negative” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res downgraded Palo Alto Networks from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $202.70.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 176,242 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.04, for a total transaction of $31,730,609.68. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,086,404 shares in the company, valued at $195,596,176.16. This represents a 13.96 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 336,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $193.70, for a total transaction of $65,081,520.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,643,516 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $705,730,831.62. The trade was a 8.44 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 1,458,864 shares of company stock valued at $269,397,331. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Company Profile

Palo Alto Networks, Inc provides cybersecurity solutions worldwide. The company offers firewall appliances and software; and Panorama, a security management solution for the global control of network security platform as a virtual or a physical appliance. It also provides subscription services covering the areas of threat prevention, malware and persistent threat, URL filtering, laptop and mobile device protection, DNS security, Internet of Things security, SaaS security API, and SaaS security inline, as well as threat intelligence, and data loss prevention.