Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW Shares Purchased by Ascent Group LLC

Key Points

• Ascent Group LLC increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks (PANW) by 64.5% in Q1, holding 4,105 shares valued at approximately $700,000 as per its recent SEC filing.
• Other institutional investors, including Vanguard and Goldman Sachs, also boosted their stakes, highlighting a growing interest in the cybersecurity company, which now has 79.82% of its stock held by institutional investors.
• Palo Alto Networks reported a quarterly EPS of $0.95, surpassing expectations, and has guidance set for FY 2026 at 3.750-3.850 EPS, indicating a strong financial performance and positive outlook.

Ascent Group LLC increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 64.5% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,105 shares of the network technology company's stock after acquiring an additional 1,609 shares during the period. Ascent Group LLC's holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $700,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Csenge Advisory Group grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 2.4% in the first quarter. Csenge Advisory Group now owns 2,271 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $381,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. GSG Advisors LLC grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 0.4% in the first quarter. GSG Advisors LLC now owns 12,450 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $2,154,000 after acquiring an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. SYM FINANCIAL Corp grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 1.4% in the first quarter. SYM FINANCIAL Corp now owns 4,047 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $691,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. Crew Capital Management Ltd. grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 2.5% in the first quarter. Crew Capital Management Ltd. now owns 2,310 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $394,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TFB Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.9% during the first quarter. TFB Advisors LLC now owns 3,084 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $526,000 after buying an additional 58 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company's stock.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 1.0%

Shares of PANW stock traded down $2.04 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $196.29. 4,429,693 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 7,988,031. The company has a market cap of $131.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 122.30, a P/E/G ratio of 4.73 and a beta of 0.98. The stock's 50 day moving average is $188.03 and its 200-day moving average is $185.94. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $144.15 and a fifty-two week high of $210.39.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Monday, August 18th. The network technology company reported $0.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.89 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $2.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.50 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 17.66% and a net margin of 12.30%.The firm's quarterly revenue was up 15.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.75 EPS. Palo Alto Networks has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.750-3.850 EPS. Q1 2026 guidance at 0.880-0.900 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, June 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $201.85, for a total value of $1,009,250.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 101,135 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $20,414,099.75. This represents a 4.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $191.11, for a total transaction of $23,081,119.14. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 177,954 shares in the company, valued at approximately $34,008,788.94. The trade was a 40.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 569,422 shares of company stock valued at $106,629,618 in the last three months. Company insiders own 2.50% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PANW has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. TD Securities restated a "buy" rating and set a $230.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $210.00 to $216.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 2nd. Wedbush restated an "outperform" rating and set a $225.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Tuesday, August 19th. Finally, Westpark Capital restated a "hold" rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Tuesday, August 19th. Twenty-eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $211.68.

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.