Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS Boosts Stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Key Points

• Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 18.3% in Q1, ending the quarter with 188,235 shares valued at about $30.2 million.
• Palo Alto Networks reported strong quarterly results, with EPS of $0.85 beating estimates and revenue of $3 billion, up 31.1% from a year earlier. The company also issued FY 2026 EPS guidance of 3.770-3.790.
• Analysts remain generally bullish: several major firms raised price targets, and the stock now carries an average Moderate Buy rating with a consensus price target of $318.65.

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 18.3% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 188,235 shares of the network technology company's stock after purchasing an additional 29,137 shares during the quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS's holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $30,178,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Darwin Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter worth about $25,000. Knuff & Co LLC purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Steph & Co. grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 88.2% during the 4th quarter. Steph & Co. now owns 143 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 67 shares during the period. Sittner & Nelson LLC grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 73.8% during the 4th quarter. Sittner & Nelson LLC now owns 146 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 62 shares during the period. Finally, WHI TRUST Co LLC purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of PANW opened at $325.91 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $265.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 267.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 12.10 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.86. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1 year low of $139.57 and a 1 year high of $368.17. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $274.08 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $206.76.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, June 2nd. The network technology company reported $0.85 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.06. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 7.95% and a return on equity of 10.53%. The firm had revenue of $3 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.94 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.37 earnings per share. The company'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. On average, equities analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director James J. Goetz sold 20,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $279.90, for a total value of $5,598,000.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 20,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,598,000. The trade was a 50.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Helle Thorning-Schmidt sold 700 shares of the business's 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 sale, the director owned 5,898 shares in the company, valued at $2,045,721.30. This represents a 10.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 101,239 shares of company stock worth $27,174,360. 1.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have commented on PANW shares. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $253.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. TD Cowen reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $330.00 price objective (up from $255.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. HSBC raised their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $114.00 to $207.00 in a research report on Thursday, June 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, June 1st. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks from a "hold (c)" rating to a "hold (c-)" rating in a report on Thursday, June 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have given a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $318.65.

Palo Alto Networks Company 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.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding PANW? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report).

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.