Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI Acquires New Holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Key Points

• Citizens Financial Group initiated a Palo Alto Networks position in the second quarter, purchasing 46,200 shares valued at approximately $15.8 million. Institutional investors collectively own 79.82% of PANW’s outstanding stock.
• Analysts remain broadly bullish, with the stock carrying a “Moderate Buy” consensus rating and an average price target of $342.61; Needham raised its target to $425, while Benchmark and Piper Sandler also increased their targets.
• Palo Alto Networks reported quarterly revenue of $3 billion, up 31.1% year over year, and EPS of $0.85 versus the $0.79 consensus estimate. However, insiders sold 101,239 shares worth $27.2 million over the past 90 days, and the stock trades at a high P/E ratio of 308.

Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 46,200 shares of the network technology company's stock, valued at approximately $15,755,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 15.0% during the 1st quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 410,401 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $65,796,000 after acquiring an additional 53,485 shares during the last quarter. Aviva PLC boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 5.4% in the 4th quarter. Aviva PLC now owns 568,804 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $104,774,000 after purchasing an additional 29,230 shares in the last quarter. B&D White Capital Company LLC bought a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 1st quarter valued at $353,000. Bridgewater Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter worth $2,159,000. Finally, Granite Islands Private Wealth LLC raised its position in Palo Alto Networks by 43.6% in the 1st quarter. Granite Islands Private Wealth LLC now owns 15,342 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $2,453,000 after purchasing an additional 4,659 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $289.56, for a total transaction of $1,447,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 145,250 shares in the company, valued at $42,058,590. This trade represents a 3.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Helle Thorning-Schmidt sold 700 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $346.85, for a total value of $242,795.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 5,898 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,045,721.30. This represents a 10.61% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 101,239 shares of company stock valued at $27,174,360. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have issued reports on PANW. Benchmark upped their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $270.00 to $340.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Piper Sandler restated an "overweight" rating and set a $345.00 price target (up from $265.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Needham & Company LLC upped their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $350.00 to $425.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. HSBC raised their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $114.00 to $207.00 in a research note on Thursday, June 4th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $209.00 to $253.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty have issued a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $342.61.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

PANW stock opened at $375.76 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 0.86. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $330.20 and a 200-day moving average price of $237.05. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52-week low of $139.57 and a 52-week high of $398.88. The firm has a market capitalization of $306.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 308.00, a PEG ratio of 12.89 and a beta of 0.91.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, June 2nd. The network technology company reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.06. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 10.53% and a net margin of 7.95%.The company had revenue of $3 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.94 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.37 EPS. The firm's quarterly 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. Equities research analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Palo Alto Networks 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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