Chesley Taft & Associates LLC Has $37.28 Million Stock Holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Key Points

• Chesley Taft & Associates LLC holds $37.28 million in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (PANW), representing 1.7% of its portfolio, after decreasing its position by 1.1% in the second quarter.
• A majority of analysts rate Palo Alto Networks as a "Moderate Buy" with an average price target of $211.68, with several institutions recently acquiring new positions or increasing their stakes in the company.
• Palo Alto Networks reported a 15.8% revenue increase year-over-year for the most recent quarter, with earnings per share beating estimates at $0.95, surpassing the consensus of $0.89.

Chesley Taft & Associates LLC decreased its position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 182,164 shares of the network technology company's stock after selling 2,007 shares during the period. Palo Alto Networks comprises 1.7% of Chesley Taft & Associates LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest position. Chesley Taft & Associates LLC's holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $37,278,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in PANW. Capital A Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the fourth quarter worth $29,000. HWG Holdings LP bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the 1st quarter worth about $31,000. Dagco Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 1st quarter worth about $33,000. SWAN Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 100.0% in the 4th quarter. SWAN Capital LLC now owns 200 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, WPG Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the first quarter valued at about $37,000. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have weighed in on PANW shares. Barclays restated an "overweight" rating and issued a $215.00 price target (up from $210.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday, August 19th. TD Securities restated a "buy" rating and set a $230.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $217.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 19th. DA Davidson reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $215.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Tuesday, August 19th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $223.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Friday, August 15th. Twenty-eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $211.68.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $201.85, for a total transaction of $1,009,250.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 101,135 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,414,099.75. This trade represents a 4.71% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.20, for a total transaction of $128,940.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 37,723 shares in the company, valued at $6,948,576.60. This trade represents a 1.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 569,422 shares of company stock valued at $106,629,618. Corporate insiders own 2.50% of the company's stock.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PANW opened at $201.34 on Wednesday. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $187.97 and its 200 day simple moving average is $186.09. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1 year low of $144.15 and a 1 year high of $210.39. The company has a market capitalization of $134.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 125.45, a P/E/G ratio of 4.80 and a beta of 0.98.

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 for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.89 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $2.54 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company 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. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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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