Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC Makes New Investment in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Key Points

• Focus Partners Advisor Solutions acquired 18,160 Palo Alto Networks shares worth approximately $6.2 million in the second quarter. Institutional investors collectively own 79.82% of the company.
• Palo Alto Networks exceeded quarterly expectations, reporting $0.85 in earnings per share versus the $0.79 consensus and $3 billion in revenue, up 31.1% year over year.
• Analysts maintain a generally positive outlook, with a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and a $339.61 price target, while insiders sold more than 101,000 shares worth $27.2 million over the past 90 days.

Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 18,160 shares of the network technology company's stock, valued at approximately $6,193,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 4.1% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 67,929,063 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $12,512,533,000 after purchasing an additional 2,659,100 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 30,331,705 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $5,587,100,000 after purchasing an additional 594,789 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE raised its position in Palo Alto Networks by 16.0% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 22,476,753 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $3,603,473,000 after acquiring an additional 3,101,267 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,989,257 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $2,934,935,000 after acquiring an additional 540,756 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,415,364,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company's stock.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 3.0%

Shares of PANW opened at $384.27 on Friday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52 week low of $139.57 and a 52 week high of $398.88. The firm has a market cap of $313.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 314.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 12.89 and a beta of 0.91. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $328.02 and its 200 day simple moving average is $235.34. 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. The firm had revenue of $3 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.94 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 7.95% and a return on equity of 10.53%. The business's revenue was up 31.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.37 EPS. 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, analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, Director James J. Goetz sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $279.90, for a total transaction of $5,598,000.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 20,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,598,000. This trade represents a 50.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 62,904 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $258.65, for a total value of $16,270,119.60. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 235,983 shares of the company's stock, valued at $61,037,002.95. This trade represents a 21.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 101,239 shares of company stock valued at $27,174,360 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on PANW. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, June 1st. HSBC boosted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $114.00 to $207.00 in a research report on Thursday, June 4th. Tigress Financial upped their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $245.00 to $430.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. Guggenheim cut Palo Alto Networks from a "neutral" rating to a "reduce" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 27th. Finally, Evercore reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $415.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty have given a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $339.61.

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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