Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Boosts Holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Key Points

• Assenagon Asset Management S.A. dramatically increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 871.8% in the first quarter, ending with 465,845 shares valued at about $74.7 million.
• Palo Alto Networks reported strong quarterly results, with EPS of $0.85 beating estimates and revenue of $3 billion topping expectations; revenue rose 31.1% year over year.
• The stock has drawn bullish analyst attention, with multiple firms raising price targets and the consensus rating sitting at Moderate Buy with an average target price of $306.59.

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 871.8% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 465,845 shares of the network technology company's stock after acquiring an additional 417,911 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. owned approximately 0.06% of Palo Alto Networks worth $74,684,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Focused Wealth Management Inc acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the first quarter worth about $566,000. Keudell Morrison Wealth Management increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 5.6% during the first quarter. Keudell Morrison Wealth Management now owns 2,588 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $415,000 after acquiring an additional 137 shares in the last quarter. Faithward Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 26.5% in the 1st quarter. Faithward Advisors LLC now owns 23,861 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $3,570,000 after purchasing an additional 4,995 shares during the last quarter. Cache Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 24.9% in the 1st quarter. Cache Advisors LLC now owns 25,080 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $4,021,000 after purchasing an additional 5,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Richards Merrill & Peterson Inc. boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 17.7% in the 1st quarter. Richards Merrill & Peterson Inc. now owns 7,729 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $1,239,000 after purchasing an additional 1,163 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

NASDAQ:PANW opened at $293.09 on Friday. The firm's fifty day moving average is $238.42 and its two-hundred day moving average is $195.35. The firm has a market cap of $238.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 240.24, a PEG ratio of 10.59 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 0.86. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a one year low of $139.57 and a one year high of $302.95.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, June 2nd. The network technology company reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.79 by $0.06. The business 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 was up 31.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business 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. Research analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.03 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director James J. Goetz sold 20,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $279.90, for a total transaction of $5,598,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 20,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,598,000. The trade was a 50.00% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.42, for a total transaction of $802,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 150,250 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $24,103,105. This represents a 3.22% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 106,389 shares of company stock worth $27,570,630. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have weighed in on PANW. Loop Capital boosted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $160.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Benchmark lifted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $270.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. William Blair reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Tuesday, June 16th. Robert W. Baird set a $320.00 price target on Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities increased their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $275.00 to $355.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-eight have issued a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $306.59.

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.

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