Avity Investment Management Inc. Grows Stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Key Points

• Avity Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 37.9% during the 2nd quarter, owning 181,691 shares valued at approximately $37.2 million.
• Institutional ownership for Palo Alto Networks stands at 79.82%, reflecting significant interest from multiple hedge funds that have made substantial investments in the company.
• Palo Alto Networks reported a 15.8% increase in revenue year-over-year and exceeded earnings estimates for the last quarter, with an EPS of $0.95 compared to expectations of $0.89.

Avity Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 37.9% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 181,691 shares of the network technology company's stock after acquiring an additional 49,971 shares during the quarter. Palo Alto Networks makes up about 2.8% of Avity Investment Management Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 17th biggest position. Avity Investment Management Inc.'s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $37,181,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of PANW. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 147.7% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,761 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $1,230,000 after acquiring an additional 4,031 shares in the last quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 115.6% during the 4th quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 43,985 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $8,004,000 after acquiring an additional 23,586 shares in the last quarter. Bison Wealth LLC boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 169.1% during the 4th quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 5,212 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $948,000 after acquiring an additional 3,275 shares in the last quarter. Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 98.6% during the 4th quarter. Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC now owns 6,548 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $1,191,000 after acquiring an additional 3,251 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Toronto Dominion Bank boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 86.6% during the 4th quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 227,913 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $41,471,000 after acquiring an additional 105,766 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PANW has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $230.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Rosenblatt Securities lowered their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $235.00 to $215.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 14th. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $232.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Tuesday, August 19th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $223.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Friday, August 15th. Finally, KeyCorp cut Palo Alto Networks from an "overweight" rating to a "sector weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Twenty-eight 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's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $211.68.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

NASDAQ PANW opened at $196.29 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $188.03 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $185.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $131.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 122.30, a PEG ratio of 4.68 and a beta of 0.98. 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 released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 18th. The network technology company reported $0.95 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.89 by $0.06. The business 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 company's 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. As a group, analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the executive vice president owned 177,954 shares in the company, valued at approximately $34,008,788.94. This represents a 40.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $201.85, for a total value of $1,009,250.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 101,135 shares in the company, valued at $20,414,099.75. This represents a 4.71% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 569,422 shares of company stock worth $106,629,618. Corporate insiders own 2.50% of the company's stock.

Palo Alto Networks 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.

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