Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Boosts Stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Key Points

• Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks, owning approximately 1,173,651 shares valued at $200 million, representing a 1.1% increase in their investment during the first quarter.
• Insider selling activity included 5,000 shares sold by EVP Dipak Golechha, reducing his position by 4.71%, while total insider sales over the last quarter amount to 669,248 shares valued at $126 million.
• Wall Street analysts display a generally positive outlook, with 28 analysts rating the stock as a Buy, and an average target price of approximately $218.86, reflecting confidence in the company's growth prospects.

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 1.1% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,173,651 shares of the network technology company's stock after acquiring an additional 13,343 shares during the quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned 0.18% of Palo Alto Networks worth $200,268,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Csenge Advisory Group increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2.4% in the first quarter. Csenge Advisory Group now owns 2,271 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $381,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. SYM FINANCIAL Corp lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.4% in the first quarter. SYM FINANCIAL Corp now owns 4,047 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $691,000 after buying an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Crew Capital Management Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2.5% in the first quarter. Crew Capital Management Ltd. now owns 2,310 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $394,000 after buying an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. JDM Financial Group LLC raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 22.4% during the 4th quarter. JDM Financial Group LLC now owns 322 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $59,000 after purchasing an additional 59 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sage Mountain Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.5% in the 1st quarter. Sage Mountain Advisors LLC now owns 3,931 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $671,000 after buying an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on PANW shares. Roth Capital started coverage on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, May 15th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $210.00 target price on the stock. Westpark Capital restated a "hold" rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $230.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday. JMP Securities reissued a "market outperform" rating and issued a $212.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Barclays reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $215.00 price target (up previously from $210.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday. Twenty-eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $211.52.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, Director Aparna Bawa sold 526 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.00, for a total value of $99,940.00. Following the sale, the director owned 8,632 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,640,080. This trade represents a 5.74% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 100,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.80, for a total value of $17,280,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 3,143,516 shares in the company, valued at approximately $543,199,564.80. The trade was a 3.08% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 669,248 shares of company stock worth $126,423,337. Company insiders own 2.50% of the company's stock.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 1.2%

NASDAQ PANW traded down $2.2010 on Thursday, reaching $182.2290. The company had a trading volume of 5,119,147 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,456,777. The stock has a market capitalization of $121.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 113.49, a P/E/G ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 0.94. The company's fifty day moving average is $191.11 and its 200 day moving average is $186.31. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52-week low of $144.15 and a 52-week high of $210.39.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly 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. The business 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm 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, research analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.

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.