Employees Provident Fund Board Makes New Investment in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Key Points

• Employees Provident Fund Board bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the fourth quarter, purchasing 1,528,458 shares valued at about $281.5 million. The position now represents roughly 2.1% of its portfolio and makes PANW its 13th-largest holding.
• Insider selling continued recently, with directors Aparna Bawa and John P. Key both selling shares on June 12. Over the past 90 days, insiders have sold 101,044 shares worth about $26.0 million.
• Palo Alto Networks reported strong quarterly results, beating estimates with EPS of $0.85 on revenue of $3.0 billion, up 31.1% year over year. Analysts remain largely bullish, with a consensus Moderate Buy rating and an average price target of $306.59.

Employees Provident Fund Board purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 1,528,458 shares of the network technology company's stock, valued at approximately $281,542,000. Palo Alto Networks accounts for approximately 2.1% of Employees Provident Fund Board's investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest holding. Employees Provident Fund Board owned 0.19% of Palo Alto Networks as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in PANW. Princeton Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 3.4% during the third quarter. Princeton Capital Management LLC now owns 1,520 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $310,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. South Plains Financial Inc. increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. South Plains Financial Inc. now owns 4,823 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $982,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Fayez Sarofim & Co increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Fayez Sarofim & Co now owns 4,310 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $878,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Certified Advisory Corp raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Certified Advisory Corp now owns 16,938 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $3,449,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares during the period. Finally, Cooper Financial Group raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Cooper Financial Group now owns 4,227 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $779,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, Director Aparna Bawa sold 536 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.00, for a total transaction of $150,080.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 7,704 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,157,120. The trade was a 6.50% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director John P. Key sold 7,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $279.24, for a total value of $2,094,300.00. Following the sale, the director owned 12,500 shares in the company, valued at $3,490,500. The trade was a 37.50% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 101,044 shares of company stock valued at $26,022,722. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. FBN Securities reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $330.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Cantor Fitzgerald set a $340.00 price objective on Palo Alto Networks and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $325.00 price objective (up from $285.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Evercore reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $375.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein increased their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $209.00 to $253.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-eight have assigned a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $306.59.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

PANW opened at $287.78 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $234.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 235.89, a PEG ratio of 10.69 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a fifty day moving average of $228.24 and a 200 day moving average of $192.65. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $139.57 and a fifty-two week high of $302.95. 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 (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, June 2nd. The network technology company reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $3 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.94 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.37 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter 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. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Palo Alto Networks

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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