Wellington Shields & Co. LLC Grows Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Wellington Shields & Co. LLC boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 18.5% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 14,962 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,333 shares during the period. Wellington Shields & Co. LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $2,756,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of PANW. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 4.1% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 67,929,063 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $12,512,533,000 after purchasing an additional 2,659,100 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 108.3% during the third 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. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the third quarter worth approximately $162,161,000. Danske Bank A S purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the third quarter worth approximately $151,682,000. Finally, Amundi raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 25.1% during the third quarter. Amundi now owns 3,532,201 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $750,875,000 after purchasing an additional 708,332 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PANW has been the subject of several analyst reports. Citizens Jmp restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $250.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $225.00 price target 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $200.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Finally, Arete Research raised Palo Alto Networks from a “sell” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $185.00 target price for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 3rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-five have assigned a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $226.33.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, CEO Nikesh Arora acquired 68,085 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 27th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $146.87 per share, for a total transaction of $9,999,643.95. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer directly owned 343,394 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $50,434,276.78. This trade represents a 24.73% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $236.95, for a total value of $94,780.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 82,736 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,604,295.20. This represents a 0.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 30,756 shares of company stock valued at $5,076,355. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $260.58 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $185.14 and a two-hundred day moving average of $182.38. The company has a market capitalization of $212.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 143.97, a PEG ratio of 9.39 and a beta of 0.77. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $139.57 and a fifty-two week high of $261.41.

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.