Primecap Management Co. CA Sells 3,710 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Primecap Management Co. CA cut its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 0.7% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 512,390 shares of the network technology company's stock after selling 3,710 shares during the quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA owned approximately 0.16% of Palo Alto Networks worth $175,135,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in PANW. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the first quarter valued at $536,000. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 0.6% in the first quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,788 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $1,929,000 after buying an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 11.0% in the first quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 7,468 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $2,122,000 after buying an additional 738 shares in the last quarter. Guardian Capital Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 11.3% in the first quarter. Guardian Capital Advisors LP now owns 4,200 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $1,165,000 after buying an additional 425 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Truvestments Capital LLC increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 260.4% in the first quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC now owns 2,094 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $595,000 after buying an additional 1,513 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $392.89 on Thursday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12-month low of $258.17 and a 12-month high of $408.53. The stock has a market cap of $127.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 54.19, a P/E/G ratio of 5.63 and a beta of 1.12. The business's 50 day moving average is $362.55 and its 200-day moving average is $338.41.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $1.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.48 by $0.08. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 26.83% and a net margin of 32.11%. The company had revenue of $2.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.12 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.63 EPS. The business's revenue was up 13.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 3.56 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $344.98, for a total transaction of $20,698,800.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 159,009 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $54,854,924.82. The trade was a 27.40 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 81,586 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $367.99, for a total value of $30,022,832.14. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 618,715 shares in the company, valued at $227,680,932.85. The trade was a 11.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 254,252 shares of company stock valued at $89,041,637. 2.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PANW has been the subject of a number of research reports. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $395.00 to $455.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded Palo Alto Networks to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $400.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $364.00 to $399.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $391.92.

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.

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