Bell Bank Acquires New Holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Key Points

• Bell Bank has acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks, purchasing 1,450 shares valued at approximately $297,000 during the second quarter.
• Palo Alto Networks achieved a significant 15.8% year-over-year revenue growth with reported earnings of $2.54 billion for the most recent quarter, exceeding consensus estimates.
• The company's stock is currently rated as a "Moderate Buy" by investment analysts, with a consensus price target of $212.39.

Bell Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 1,450 shares of the network technology company's stock, valued at approximately $297,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PANW. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the first quarter valued at about $810,047,000. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter valued at about $633,068,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 18,802.8% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,410,290 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $411,292,000 after buying an additional 2,397,539 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 41.9% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 7,235,406 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $1,234,650,000 after buying an additional 2,134,735 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 77.1% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 3,879,506 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $662,000,000 after buying an additional 1,688,432 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 1.2%

NASDAQ:PANW opened at $208.19 on Friday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52 week low of $144.15 and a 52 week high of $210.39. The company has a market capitalization of $139.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 129.71, a P/E/G ratio of 4.96 and a beta of 0.98. The stock's fifty day moving average is $188.60 and its two-hundred day moving average is $186.53.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on PANW. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $223.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Friday, August 15th. DA Davidson reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $215.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday, August 19th. Guggenheim increased their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a "sell" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 19th. JMP Securities reissued a "market outperform" rating and issued a $212.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday, August 19th. Finally, Bank of America raised Palo Alto Networks from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $215.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Tuesday, August 19th. Twenty-nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $212.39.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $191.11, for a total value of $23,081,119.14. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 177,954 shares in the company, valued at $34,008,788.94. The trade was a 40.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.20, for a total value of $128,940.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 37,723 shares in the company, valued at $6,948,576.60. This represents a 1.82% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 568,622 shares of company stock worth $106,468,778 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 2.50% of the company's stock.

About Palo Alto Networks

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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