GC Wealth Management RIA LLC Boosts Stock Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Key Points

• GC Wealth Management RIA LLC significantly increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. by 365.4% in the second quarter, acquiring an additional 13,733 shares to reach a total of 17,491 shares valued at approximately $3,579,000.
• Palo Alto Networks received positive ratings from several analysts, with price targets ranging from $205.00 to $245.00, indicating strong confidence in the company’s performance.
• Insider selling was notable, with EVP Lee Klarich and CEO Nikesh Arora selling large amounts of shares, with Klarich selling 120,774 shares and Arora selling 846,408 shares, reflecting significant changes in their ownership stakes.

GC Wealth Management RIA LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 365.4% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 17,491 shares of the network technology company's stock after acquiring an additional 13,733 shares during the quarter. GC Wealth Management RIA LLC's holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $3,579,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of PANW. Hanson & Doremus Investment Management boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 16.8% during the second quarter. Hanson & Doremus Investment Management now owns 925 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $189,000 after purchasing an additional 133 shares during the period. Greenbush Financial Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 3.5% during the second quarter. Greenbush Financial Group LLC now owns 16,864 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $3,451,000 after purchasing an additional 576 shares during the period. First County Bank CT boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 6.3% during the second quarter. First County Bank CT now owns 10,242 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $2,096,000 after purchasing an additional 610 shares during the period. Investment Advisory Services Inc. TX ADV boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 4.6% in the 2nd quarter. Investment Advisory Services Inc. TX ADV now owns 1,257 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $257,000 after buying an additional 55 shares during the period. Finally, Independence Bank of Kentucky boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 10.0% in the 2nd quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky now owns 13,792 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $2,822,000 after buying an additional 1,256 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Stephens reissued an "equal weight" rating and issued a $205.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Tuesday, August 19th. Barclays reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $215.00 price target (up previously from $210.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday, August 19th. Scotiabank upped their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $228.00 and gave the stock a "sector outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 19th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $217.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 19th. Finally, Tigress Financial began coverage on Palo Alto Networks in a report on Friday. They issued a "buy" rating and a $245.00 target price for the company. Thirty analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $214.64.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $191.11, for a total value of $23,081,119.14. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 177,954 shares in the company, valued at approximately $34,008,788.94. This trade represents a 40.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 846,408 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $204.06, for a total value of $172,718,016.48. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 275,013 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $56,119,152.78. This trade represents a 75.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,415,030 shares of company stock valued at $279,198,494 in the last 90 days. 2.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PANW opened at $202.37 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $135.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 126.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.82 and a beta of 0.98. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1-year low of $144.15 and a 1-year high of $210.39. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $189.58 and a 200 day moving average price of $187.47.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Monday, August 18th. The network technology company reported $0.95 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.89 by $0.06. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 12.30% and a return on equity of 17.66%. The company had revenue of $2.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.50 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.75 earnings per share. Palo Alto Networks's revenue for the quarter was up 15.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Palo Alto Networks has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.750-3.850 EPS. Q1 2026 guidance at 0.880-0.900 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Palo Alto Networks

Palo Alto Networks, Inc provides cybersecurity solutions worldwide. The company offers firewall appliances and software; and Panorama, a security management solution for the global control of network security platform as a virtual or a physical appliance. It also provides subscription services covering the areas of threat prevention, malware and persistent threat, URL filtering, laptop and mobile device protection, DNS security, Internet of Things security, SaaS security API, and SaaS security inline, as well as threat intelligence, and data loss prevention.

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