Element Capital Management LLC Acquires Shares of 16,836 Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Key Points

• Element Capital Management LLC opened a new position in Palo Alto Networks, buying 16,836 shares valued at about $3.1 million in the fourth quarter. The stake represents roughly 1.5% of the fund’s portfolio and its 15th-largest holding.
• Palo Alto Networks reported better-than-expected quarterly results, posting EPS of $0.85 versus estimates of $0.79 and revenue of $3.0 billion versus $2.94 billion expected. Revenue rose 31.1% year over year, and the company raised FY2026 guidance.
• Despite some insider selling, Wall Street remains constructive on PANW, with a Moderate Buy consensus and an average price target of $306.59. Several firms recently raised targets, including Morgan Stanley, Evercore, and Wells Fargo.

Element Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 16,836 shares of the network technology company's stock, valued at approximately $3,101,000. Palo Alto Networks comprises about 1.5% of Element Capital Management LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest holding.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in PANW. Darwin Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter valued at $25,000. Steph & Co. grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 88.2% in the fourth quarter. Steph & Co. now owns 143 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares during the period. Knuff & Co LLC acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Sittner & Nelson LLC increased its position in Palo Alto Networks by 73.8% during the fourth quarter. Sittner & Nelson LLC now owns 146 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Luken Investment Analytics LLC raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 196.2% during the fourth quarter. Luken Investment Analytics LLC now owns 154 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 102 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 0.8%

Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $282.13 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $229.94 billion, a PE ratio of 231.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 10.39 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 0.86. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $139.57 and a fifty-two week high of $302.95. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $223.60 and a 200 day moving average price of $191.30.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, June 2nd. The network technology company reported $0.85 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates 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 analysts' expectations of $2.94 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.37 earnings per share. The firm's 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. Research analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on PANW. Stifel Nicolaus set a $340.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $253.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Evercore reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $375.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Citizens Jmp reissued a "market outperform" rating and set a $250.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $325.00 price target (up from $285.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-eight have given a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $306.59.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, Director James J. Goetz sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $279.90, for a total transaction of $5,598,000.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 20,000 shares in the company, valued at $5,598,000. This represents a 50.00% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.42, for a total transaction of $802,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 150,250 shares of the company's stock, valued at $24,103,105. This represents a 3.22% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 101,044 shares of company stock worth $26,022,722 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company's stock.

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.

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