Bridges Investment Management Inc. Sells 4,866 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Key Points

• Bridges Investment Management Inc. sold 4,866 shares of Palo Alto Networks, decreasing its stake by 0.7% to 698,318 shares, which now constitutes about 1.9% of its portfolio.
• Analysts have mixed views on Palo Alto Networks, with Morgan Stanley raising the price target to $216, while KeyCorp downgraded the stock to "sector weight."
• Insider transactions have seen significant selling, with EVP Nir Zuk selling 100,000 shares for $17.28 million and EVP Lee Klarich selling 120,774 shares valued at $25.59 million within a short period.

Bridges Investment Management Inc. reduced its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 0.7% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 698,318 shares of the network technology company's stock after selling 4,866 shares during the quarter. Palo Alto Networks comprises about 1.9% of Bridges Investment Management Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 15th biggest position. Bridges Investment Management Inc. owned approximately 0.10% of Palo Alto Networks worth $142,904,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in PANW. HWG Holdings LP acquired a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the 1st quarter worth approximately $31,000. Dagco Inc. acquired a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the 1st quarter worth approximately $33,000. WPG Advisers LLC acquired a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the 1st quarter worth approximately $37,000. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 58.9% during the 1st quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL now owns 224 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 83 shares during the period. Finally, Stonebridge Financial Group LLC raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 46.8% during the 1st quarter. Stonebridge Financial Group LLC now owns 232 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 74 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on PANW shares. KeyCorp downgraded Palo Alto Networks from an "overweight" rating to a "sector weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $210.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 2nd. 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 note on Thursday, August 14th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $235.00 price objective on Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday, July 29th. Finally, New Street Research increased their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $235.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, September 12th. Twenty-nine equities research 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, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $216.00.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 0.4%

Shares of Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $206.70 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $138.26 billion, a PE ratio of 128.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.93 and a beta of 0.98. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $195.23 and a 200-day moving average price of $189.80. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52 week low of $144.15 and a 52 week high of $217.94.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Monday, August 18th. The network technology company reported $0.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.06. The company 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%.Palo Alto Networks's quarterly revenue was up 15.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.75 earnings per share. 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, research analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 100,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.80, for a total value of $17,280,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 3,143,516 shares of the company's stock, valued at $543,199,564.80. This represents a 3.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $211.92, for a total value of $25,594,426.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 149,190 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $31,616,344.80. This represents a 44.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,315,130 shares of company stock valued at $260,687,367 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 2.50% of the company's stock.

Palo Alto Networks Company 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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