Geneos Wealth Management Inc. Boosts Holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Key Points

• Geneos Wealth Management Inc. has increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. by 24.7%, owning 68,422 shares valued at approximately $11.68 million following additional acquisitions in the first quarter.
• Other institutional investors, including Goldman Sachs and Vanguard Group, have also boosted their holdings in Palo Alto Networks, indicating strong institutional interest in the stock.
• Palo Alto Networks reported better-than-expected earnings per share (EPS) of $0.95 for the last quarter, exceeding analyst forecasts, and projected guidance for FY 2026 EPS to be in the range of 3.750-3.850.

Geneos Wealth Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 24.7% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 68,422 shares of the network technology company's stock after acquiring an additional 13,533 shares during the quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc.'s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $11,675,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PANW. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2.5% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 62,775,544 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $10,712,019,000 after buying an additional 1,541,637 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 41.9% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 7,235,406 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $1,234,650,000 after buying an additional 2,134,735 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 16.0% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 6,902,048 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $1,177,765,000 after buying an additional 950,765 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 98.0% in the fourth quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 6,158,580 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $1,120,615,000 after acquiring an additional 3,047,625 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 92.7% in the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 5,951,283 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $1,082,895,000 after acquiring an additional 2,862,718 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 0.1%

NASDAQ PANW opened at $197.55 on Wednesday. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $188.19 and its 200-day simple moving average is $185.75. The stock has a market cap of $132.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 123.08, a PEG ratio of 4.71 and a beta of 0.98. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52 week low of $144.15 and a 52 week high of $210.39.

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

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 100,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Friday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.80, for a total value of $17,280,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 3,143,516 shares in the company, valued at approximately $543,199,564.80. The trade was a 3.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.20, for a total transaction of $128,940.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 37,723 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,948,576.60. The trade was a 1.82% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 569,422 shares of company stock worth $106,629,618 in the last ninety days. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on PANW. Rosenblatt Securities reduced their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $235.00 to $215.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 14th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $235.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Tuesday, July 29th. DA Davidson reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $215.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Tuesday, August 19th. Truist Financial set a $220.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 19th. Finally, Northland Securities reduced their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $210.00 to $177.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Twenty-eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $211.68.

Palo Alto Networks Company Profile

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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