3,242 Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW Shares Sold by Principle Wealth Partners LLC

Key Points

• Principle Wealth Partners cut its Palo Alto Networks stake by 12%, selling 3,242 shares in the third quarter and retaining 23,805 shares valued at about $9.46 million.
• Insiders sold 54,210 shares worth approximately $20.8 million over the past 90 days. Institutional investors own about 79.8% of the company.
• Analysts’ consensus rating is Moderate Buy, with a $398.55 average price target. The company beat quarterly earnings and revenue expectations, reporting 34.5% year-over-year revenue growth.

Principle Wealth Partners LLC trimmed its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 12.0% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 23,805 shares of the network technology company's stock after selling 3,242 shares during the period. Principle Wealth Partners LLC's holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $9,458,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Kestra Advisory Services LLC raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 5.2% during the third quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC now owns 165,023 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $65,565,000 after acquiring an additional 8,148 shares during the last quarter. REAP Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 15.4% during the third quarter. REAP Financial Group LLC now owns 458 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $182,000 after acquiring an additional 61 shares during the period. QTR Family Wealth LLC lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 17.0% during the third quarter. QTR Family Wealth LLC now owns 834 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $331,000 after acquiring an additional 121 shares during the period. Platform Technology Partners boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 9.7% in the third quarter. Platform Technology Partners now owns 812 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $323,000 after acquiring an additional 72 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wealth Dimensions Group Ltd. boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 2.5% in the third quarter. Wealth Dimensions Group Ltd. now owns 1,334 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $530,000 after acquiring an additional 33 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 27,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $391.60, for a total transaction of $10,769,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 117,750 shares in the company, valued at approximately $46,110,900. The trade was a 18.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director James J. Goetz sold 20,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $376.68, for a total transaction of $7,533,600.00. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 54,210 shares of company stock worth $20,823,029 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. Roth Capital reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $300.00 price objective (up from $210.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, September 2nd. New Street Research set a $415.00 price objective on Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday, August 18th. Capital One Financial upped their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $421.00 to $428.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 2nd. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $415.00 target price (up from $335.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Thursday, August 20th. Finally, Scotiabank cut shares of Palo Alto Networks from a "sector outperform" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Thirty-nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $398.55.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 9.6%

NASDAQ PANW opened at $314.67 on Friday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12 month low of $139.57 and a 12 month high of $432.33. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $371.68 and a 200 day simple moving average of $272.93. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. The company has a market capitalization of $257.64 billion, a PE ratio of 617.01, a P/E/G ratio of 9.98 and a beta of 0.96.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, September 1st. The network technology company reported $1.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.98 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $3.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.35 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 8.50% and a net margin of 2.67%. The company's revenue was up 34.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.95 earnings per share. 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. Research analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.32 EPS for the current year.

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.

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