Hilltop National Bank Invests $1.21 Million in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Key Points

• Hilltop National Bank has invested $1.21 million in Palo Alto Networks, Inc., acquiring 5,888 shares during the second quarter.
• Institutional ownership is significant, with 79.82% of the company's stock held by hedge funds and other investors, including substantial new investments from Nuveen LLC and Kingstone Capital Partners.
• Recent analyst ratings are positive, with multiple firms upgrading their outlook, leading to a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $214.64.

Hilltop National Bank bought a new position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 5,888 shares of the network technology company's stock, valued at approximately $1,205,000.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in PANW. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the first quarter worth approximately $810,047,000. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the second quarter valued at approximately $633,068,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its position in 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 valued at $1,234,650,000 after purchasing an additional 2,134,735 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 77.1% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 3,879,506 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $662,000,000 after purchasing an additional 1,688,432 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in 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 valued at $10,712,019,000 after purchasing an additional 1,541,637 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently commented on PANW shares. Piper Sandler raised shares of Palo Alto Networks from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $200.00 to $225.00 in a research report on Tuesday, August 12th. Bank of America raised shares of Palo Alto Networks from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $215.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, August 19th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $217.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 19th. KeyCorp cut shares of Palo Alto Networks from an "overweight" rating to a "sector weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Tigress Financial assumed coverage on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Friday, September 26th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $245.00 target price for the company. Thirty research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $214.64.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 1.2%

Shares of PANW stock opened at $209.30 on Friday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1 year low of $144.15 and a 1 year high of $210.39. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $190.12 and its 200 day simple moving average is $188.04. The firm has a market capitalization of $140.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 130.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.92 and a beta of 0.98.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last announced its 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. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 12.30% and a return on equity of 17.66%. The business had revenue of $2.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.50 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.75 earnings per share. Palo Alto Networks's revenue 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. Equities research analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 846,408 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $204.06, for a total transaction of $172,718,016.48. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 275,013 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $56,119,152.78. The trade was a 75.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 100,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.80, for a total transaction of $17,280,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 3,143,516 shares in the company, valued at $543,199,564.80. This trade represents a 3.08% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 1,315,130 shares of company stock valued at $259,351,606 in the last three months. 2.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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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