Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG Sells 40,464 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Key Points

• Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG cut its Palo Alto Networks stake by 35.1% in the third quarter, selling 40,464 shares and retaining 74,863 shares valued at approximately $29.7 million.
• Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of Palo Alto Networks, while insiders sold 54,210 shares worth $20.8 million during the last quarter.
• Despite shares falling 1.9% to $340.47, analysts maintain a “Moderate Buy” consensus with an average price target of $398.55; the company recently exceeded quarterly earnings and revenue estimates.

Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG lowered its stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 35.1% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 74,863 shares of the network technology company's stock after selling 40,464 shares during the quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG's holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $29,744,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter worth about $25,833,462,000. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 4.2% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 36,979,497 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $12,610,748,000 after acquiring an additional 1,493,179 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 0.9% during the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 22,681,876 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $7,734,973,000 after acquiring an additional 205,123 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 8.7% during the second quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 8,778,963 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $2,993,802,000 after acquiring an additional 706,003 shares during the period. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 4.4% during the first quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 6,466,118 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $1,036,648,000 after acquiring an additional 273,103 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director James Goetz sold 20,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $376.68, for a total value of $7,533,600.00. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 27,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $391.60, for a total value of $10,769,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 117,750 shares in the company, valued at $46,110,900. This represents a 18.93% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 54,210 shares of company stock worth $20,823,029 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. FBN Securities reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, July 1st. Evercore reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Monday, August 31st. Morgan Stanley set a $410.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, September 21st. Robert W. Baird set a $420.00 target price on Palo Alto Networks and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Finally, Citizens Jmp raised their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $320.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 12th. Thirty-nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $398.55.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 1.9%

Shares of Palo Alto Networks stock traded down $6.48 on Tuesday, hitting $340.47. 1,868,833 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 8,139,018. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $371.90 and a 200 day moving average price of $303.36. The company has a quick ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12-month low of $139.57 and a 12-month high of $432.33. The company has a market cap of $278.50 billion, a PE ratio of 667.73, a PEG ratio of 9.84 and a beta of 0.93.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, September 1st. The network technology company reported $1.02 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.98 by $0.04. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 2.67% and a return on equity of 8.50%. The business had revenue of $3.41 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.35 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.95 earnings per share. Palo Alto Networks's revenue for the quarter was up 34.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Palo Alto Networks has set its FY 2027 guidance at 4.160-4.190 EPS and its Q1 2027 guidance at 0.960-0.980 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.31 earnings per share for the current year.

Palo Alto Networks Company Profile

Palo Alto Networks, Inc NASDAQ: PANW is a global cybersecurity company that helps organizations protect networks, cloud environments, endpoints, and digital infrastructure. Its offerings are designed to prevent cyberattacks, identify security risks, monitor activity, and support incident response across enterprise, government, and service-provider environments.

The company's portfolio includes network security products such as next-generation firewalls and security operations tools; Prisma, its cloud security platform; and Cortex, a suite focused on endpoint protection, threat detection, security analytics, and automated response.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.