16,989 Shares in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW Bought by BG Investment Services LLC

Key Points

• BG Investment Services acquired 16,989 Palo Alto Networks shares worth approximately $6.75 million, making PANW 1% of its portfolio. Institutional investors collectively own 79.82% of the company.
• Palo Alto Networks exceeded quarterly expectations, reporting $1.02 EPS versus $0.98 expected and $3.41 billion in revenue, up 34.5% year over year.
• Analysts maintain a generally positive outlook, with 39 Buy ratings and 11 Holds, producing a “Moderate Buy” consensus and an average price target of $398.55. Meanwhile, insiders sold 54,210 shares worth $20.8 million over the past quarter.

BG Investment Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 16,989 shares of the network technology company's stock, valued at approximately $6,750,000. Palo Alto Networks makes up 1.0% of BG Investment Services LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 28th biggest position.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of PANW. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 15.0% during the 1st quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 410,401 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $65,796,000 after purchasing an additional 53,485 shares in the last quarter. B&D White Capital Company LLC bought a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the 1st quarter valued at about $353,000. Bridgewater Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter valued at about $2,159,000. Granite Islands Private Wealth LLC boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 43.6% in the first quarter. Granite Islands Private Wealth LLC now owns 15,342 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $2,453,000 after buying an additional 4,659 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 1.6% in the third quarter. Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. now owns 240,029 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $95,366,000 after buying an additional 3,700 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

PANW stock opened at $380.55 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.87. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $369.33 and a 200 day moving average price of $307.79. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $139.57 and a fifty-two week high of $432.33. The stock has a market capitalization of $311.29 billion, a PE ratio of 746.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 10.95 and a beta of 0.93.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, September 1st. The network technology company reported $1.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.98 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $3.41 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.35 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 8.50% and a net margin of 2.67%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 34.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.95 EPS. Palo Alto Networks has set its FY 2027 guidance at 4.160-4.190 EPS and its Q1 2027 guidance at 0.960-0.980 EPS. Analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.31 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PANW has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Argus reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $425.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Thursday, September 3rd. UBS Group reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $390.00 price target (up from $300.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, August 19th. Phillip Securities cut Palo Alto Networks from a "moderate buy" rating to a "hold" rating and raised their price target for the company from $320.00 to $346.00 in a report on Monday, September 7th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $415.00 price objective on Palo Alto Networks and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 19th. Finally, Scotiabank lowered Palo Alto Networks from a "sector outperform" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 2nd. Thirty-nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $398.55.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 400 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $395.70, for a total transaction of $158,280.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 77,987 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,859,455.90. This represents a 0.51% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Aparna Bawa sold 250 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $412.28, for a total transaction of $103,070.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 4,427 shares in the company, valued at $1,825,163.56. This trade represents a 5.35% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 54,210 shares of company stock valued at $20,823,029 over the last quarter. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Profile

Palo Alto Networks, Inc NASDAQ: PANW is a global cybersecurity company that helps organizations protect networks, cloud environments, endpoints, and digital infrastructure. Its offerings are designed to prevent cyberattacks, identify security risks, monitor activity, and support incident response across enterprise, government, and service-provider environments.

The company's portfolio includes network security products such as next-generation firewalls and security operations tools; Prisma, its cloud security platform; and Cortex, a suite focused on endpoint protection, threat detection, security analytics, and automated response.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.