Bank of Nova Scotia Has $20.23 Million Stock Holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Key Points

• Bank of Nova Scotia cut its Palo Alto Networks stake by 55.6% in the first quarter, selling 157,933 shares and leaving it with 126,194 shares valued at about $20.23 million.
• Several large institutional investors still hold major positions in PANW, and overall institutional ownership remains high at 79.82% of shares outstanding.
• Analysts remain bullish on Palo Alto Networks after its latest earnings beat, with multiple firms raising price targets and the stock currently carrying a consensus Moderate Buy rating.

Bank of Nova Scotia decreased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 55.6% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 126,194 shares of the network technology company's stock after selling 157,933 shares during the period. Bank of Nova Scotia's holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $20,234,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 4.1% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 67,929,063 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $12,512,533,000 after buying an additional 2,659,100 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 30,331,705 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $5,587,100,000 after acquiring an additional 594,789 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 11.9% during the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 19,375,486 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $3,568,964,000 after acquiring an additional 2,065,776 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,989,257 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $2,934,935,000 after acquiring an additional 540,756 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the fourth quarter worth about $1,415,364,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Piper Sandler restated an "overweight" rating and issued a $345.00 price target (up from $265.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Cantor Fitzgerald set a $340.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Needham & Company LLC raised their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $350.00 to $425.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $325.00 to $420.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 1st. Finally, Capital One Financial set a $421.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty have assigned a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $331.48.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $289.56, for a total value of $1,447,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 145,250 shares in the company, valued at $42,058,590. This represents a 3.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director John P. Key sold 7,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $279.24, for a total transaction of $2,094,300.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 12,500 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,490,500. This represents a 37.50% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders have sold 101,239 shares of company stock valued at $27,174,360. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $323.79 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $300.79 and a 200-day moving average of $217.58. The company has a market capitalization of $263.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 265.40, a P/E/G ratio of 12.02 and a beta of 0.91. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1 year low of $139.57 and a 1 year high of $368.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.86.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, June 2nd. The network technology company reported $0.85 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.06. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 7.95% and a return on equity of 10.53%. The business had revenue of $3 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.94 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.37 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 31.1% compared to the same quarter last year. 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. On average, equities research analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Palo Alto Networks Company 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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