Franklin Resources Inc. Reduces Stock Holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Key Points

• Franklin Resources cut its Palo Alto Networks stake by 26.2% in the fourth quarter, selling over 1.05 million shares and leaving it with about 2.98 million shares valued at roughly $549 million.
• Other major institutions remained active in PANW, with firms like Vanguard, State Street, and Geode adding to positions, while institutional investors overall still own 79.82% of the company.
• Palo Alto Networks reported strong quarterly results, including EPS of $0.85 and revenue of $3 billion, both above estimates, while analysts maintain a Moderate Buy consensus with a price target of about $306.59.

Franklin Resources Inc. lowered its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 26.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,980,288 shares of the network technology company's stock after selling 1,057,032 shares during the quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. owned approximately 0.43% of Palo Alto Networks worth $548,969,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in PANW. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 4.1% during 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 buying an additional 2,659,100 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its position in Palo Alto Networks by 1.7% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 29,736,916 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $6,055,031,000 after acquiring an additional 505,924 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,989,257 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $2,934,935,000 after acquiring an additional 540,756 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 4th quarter valued at $1,415,364,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,528,248 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $1,532,902,000 after purchasing an additional 36,511 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.42, for a total value of $802,100.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 150,250 shares in the company, valued at $24,103,105. The trade was a 3.22% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora acquired 68,085 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, March 27th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $146.87 per share, with a total value of $9,999,643.95. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer directly owned 343,394 shares in the company, valued at approximately $50,434,276.78. The trade was a 24.73% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 72,076 shares of company stock worth $17,930,587 in the last 90 days. 1.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Northland Securities lifted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $190.00 to $302.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Evercore reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $375.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Barclays reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $315.00 price objective (up from $220.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $330.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut shares of Palo Alto Networks from a "hold (c)" rating to a "hold (c-)" rating in a research note on Thursday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-seven have given a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $306.59.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 2.1%

Shares of PANW opened at $266.33 on Tuesday. The business's 50 day moving average is $207.23 and its 200 day moving average is $186.93. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12-month low of $139.57 and a 12-month high of $302.95. The company has a market capitalization of $217.06 billion, a PE ratio of 218.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 9.55 and a beta of 0.94.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, June 2nd. The network technology company reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.79 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $3 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.94 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 7.95% and a return on equity of 10.53%. The company's revenue was up 31.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $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. Research analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.15 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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