Envestnet Asset Management Inc. Decreases Stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Key Points

• Envestnet Asset Management reduced its Palo Alto Networks stake by 6.7% in the second quarter, selling 72,017 shares and retaining 1.01 million shares worth approximately $344.5 million. Institutional investors overall own 79.82% of PANW.
• Palo Alto Networks reported quarterly revenue of $3.41 billion, up 34.5% year over year, and adjusted earnings of $1.02 per share, exceeding analyst estimates. The company is also gaining momentum in AI security, with Prisma AIRS surpassing $100 million in annual recurring revenue.
• PANW shares were up 5% at $393.30, near their 52-week high, while analysts maintained a “Moderate Buy” consensus and an average price target of $390.02. Recent insider selling, including a director’s $7.5 million share sale, was a potential negative sentiment factor.

Envestnet Asset Management Inc. cut its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 6.7% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,010,228 shares of the network technology company's stock after selling 72,017 shares during the quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. owned about 0.12% of Palo Alto Networks worth $344,506,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in PANW. Trilogy Capital Inc. boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. Trilogy Capital Inc. now owns 2,127 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $725,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares during the period. Wisconsin Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.2% in the second quarter. Wisconsin Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,206 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $1,093,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the period. Orrstown Financial Services Inc. increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.2% in the second quarter. Orrstown Financial Services Inc. now owns 3,197 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $1,090,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the period. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 125.0% in the second quarter. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 81 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares during the period. Finally, WNY Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2.8% during the second quarter. WNY Asset Management LLC now owns 1,751 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $597,000 after buying an additional 47 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company's stock.

Key Stories Impacting Palo Alto Networks

Here are the key news stories impacting Palo Alto Networks this week:

• Positive Sentiment: AI security service launch: Palo Alto Networks introduced Unit 42 Continuous Frontier AI Defense, an agentic offensive-security service that continuously identifies, validates and helps remediate enterprise vulnerabilities before attackers can exploit them. The service uses gated models from Anthropic and OpenAI, including Claude Mythos and GPT-5.6, strengthening PANW’s positioning in the fast-growing AI security market. Why Palo Alto Networks Stock Is Trading Up Today
• Positive Sentiment: Strong Prisma AIRS adoption: Palo Alto Networks’ Prisma AIRS business surpassed $100 million in annual recurring revenue, signaling rapid enterprise adoption of tools designed to secure AI applications and potentially supporting future growth in recurring software revenue. Can Prisma AIRS’ $100M ARR Milestone Drive PANW’s AI Security Growth?
• Positive Sentiment: Favorable sector rotation: Cybersecurity stocks rallied even as broader large-cap technology shares weakened. Investors may be favoring cybersecurity because expanding AI-driven attack surfaces make security spending mission-critical and less discretionary. Cybersecurity Stocks Rally While Large-Cap Tech Slides
• Neutral Sentiment: AI investment outlook: Commentary suggesting a potential slowdown in capital-intensive AI spending could shift investor interest toward established software and cybersecurity companies such as PANW. However, this is a broader market theme rather than a direct change to Palo Alto Networks’ fundamentals. Frontier AI Slowdown: Stocks and ETFs to Watch
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling: Director James Goetz sold 20,000 PANW shares for approximately $7.5 million. The transaction may modestly weigh on sentiment, although one insider sale does not necessarily indicate a change in the company’s outlook. Palo Alto Networks Director Sells 20,000 Shares

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on PANW shares. BTIG Research increased their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $380.00 to $404.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $450.00 target price (up from $400.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, September 2nd. HSBC reduced their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $201.00 to $190.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 3rd. Citigroup cut Palo Alto Networks from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, September 7th. Finally, Piper Sandler reissued an "overweight" rating and set a $410.00 price target (up from $345.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Thirty-eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $390.02.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 5.0%

Shares of PANW stock opened at $393.30 on Thursday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1 year low of $139.57 and a 1 year high of $398.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a current ratio of 0.87. The business's fifty day moving average is $354.98 and its 200-day moving average is $274.49. The stock has a market cap of $321.72 billion, a PE ratio of 771.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 10.78 and a beta of 0.91.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, September 1st. The network technology company reported $1.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.98 by $0.04. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 8.50% and a net margin of 2.67%.The firm had revenue of $3.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.35 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.95 earnings per share. Palo Alto Networks's revenue was up 34.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Palo Alto Networks has set its FY 2027 guidance at 4.160-4.190 EPS and its Q1 2027 guidance at 0.960-0.980 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, Director James Goetz sold 20,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $376.68, for a total transaction of $7,533,600.00. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Helle Thorning-Schmidt sold 700 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $346.85, for a total transaction of $242,795.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 5,898 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,045,721.30. This trade represents a 10.61% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 28,322 shares of company stock valued at $10,546,409. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company's stock.

About Palo Alto Networks

Palo Alto Networks, Inc is a cybersecurity company that provides security products and services to businesses, governments and other organizations worldwide. The company helps customers protect networks, cloud environments, endpoints, applications and connected devices from cyber threats.

Its portfolio includes next-generation firewalls and network security technologies, as well as cloud-delivered security solutions such as Prisma Access and Prisma Cloud. Palo Alto Networks also offers Cortex products for endpoint protection, security operations, threat detection and response, and automation.

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