Andra AP fonden Makes New $19.24 Million Investment in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Andra AP fonden bought a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund bought 104,440 shares of the network technology company's stock, valued at approximately $19,238,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 4.1% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 67,929,063 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $12,512,533,000 after purchasing an additional 2,659,100 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 29,736,916 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $6,055,031,000 after purchasing an additional 505,924 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,989,257 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $2,934,935,000 after purchasing an additional 540,756 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,415,364,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,528,248 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $1,532,902,000 after purchasing an additional 36,511 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Key Palo Alto Networks News

Here are the key news stories impacting Palo Alto Networks this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Scotiabank nudged its FY2027 EPS estimate higher for PANW, signaling modest confidence in longer-term earnings growth.
• Positive Sentiment: Recent commentary on Prisma AIRS suggests AI security is gaining traction and could boost revenue growth and deal size.
• Positive Sentiment: Broader cybersecurity-sector coverage remains constructive, with analysts and institutions still favoring the group amid rising AI-related security demand.
• Neutral Sentiment: Northland Securities kept a $302 price target and Market Perform rating while issuing a range of earnings estimates, indicating a cautious but not bearish stance.
• Negative Sentiment: Northland also trimmed some near- and mid-term EPS forecasts for PANW, reflecting lingering concern about profitability assumptions and valuation.
• Negative Sentiment: PANW still trades at a demanding valuation, so any slowdown in AI-security momentum could increase volatility.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Stephens boosted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $180.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $275.00 to $355.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $255.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Northland Securities boosted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $190.00 to $302.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Finally, Susquehanna reaffirmed a "positive" rating and issued a $350.00 target price (up from $200.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-seven have assigned a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $306.59.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director John P. Key sold 1,572 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $173.32, for a total value of $272,459.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 20,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,466,400. This represents a 7.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 62,904 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $258.65, for a total value of $16,270,119.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 235,983 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $61,037,002.95. This represents a 21.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders sold 72,076 shares of company stock worth $17,930,587. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company's stock.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of PANW opened at $279.53 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 0.86. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $214.06 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $188.58. The firm has a market capitalization of $227.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 229.12, a P/E/G ratio of 9.77 and a beta of 0.94. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52 week low of $139.57 and a 52 week high of $302.95.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, June 2nd. The network technology company reported $0.85 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.79 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $3 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.94 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 10.53% and a net margin of 7.95%.The company's revenue for the quarter was up 31.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.37 EPS. Palo Alto Networks has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.770-3.790 EPS and its Q4 2026 guidance at 0.960-0.980 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Palo Alto Networks Profile

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.

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