Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Sells 4,234 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Key Points

• Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund cut its Palo Alto Networks stake by 16.4% in the first quarter, selling 4,234 shares and ending with 21,522 shares valued at about $3.45 million.
• Analysts remain broadly positive on PANW, with recent price-target increases from firms including Stephens, Goldman Sachs, BNP Paribas Exane, and Tigress Financial. The stock currently carries a Moderate Buy consensus and an average target price of $327.74.
• Palo Alto Networks reported strong quarterly results, beating earnings and revenue expectations, and the stock was trading near its 52-week high at $358.68. However, company insiders have also been selling shares, including director Helle Thorning-Schmidt and CAO Josh D. Paul.

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund lessened its position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 16.4% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 21,522 shares of the network technology company's stock after selling 4,234 shares during the quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund's holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $3,450,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in PANW. Darwin Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter worth about $25,000. Knuff & Co LLC bought a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Steph & Co. grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 88.2% during the fourth quarter. Steph & Co. now owns 143 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. Sittner & Nelson LLC raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 73.8% in the fourth quarter. Sittner & Nelson LLC now owns 146 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 62 shares during the period. Finally, WHI TRUST Co LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the fourth quarter worth approximately $28,000. 79.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PANW has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Stephens boosted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $180.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $330.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. FBN Securities reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, July 1st. BNP Paribas Exane upped their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $330.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. Finally, Tigress Financial raised their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $245.00 to $430.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty have assigned a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $327.74.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Palo Alto Networks news, Director Helle Thorning-Schmidt sold 700 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $346.85, for a total transaction of $242,795.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 5,898 shares in the company, valued at $2,045,721.30. This represents a 10.61% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 900 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $345.00, for a total transaction of $310,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 79,644 shares in the company, valued at $27,477,180. This trade represents a 1.12% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 101,239 shares of company stock valued at $27,174,360 over the last quarter. 1.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 1.3%

PANW opened at $358.68 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The stock's fifty day moving average is $290.04 and its two-hundred day moving average is $212.30. The company has a market capitalization of $292.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 294.00, a PEG ratio of 13.32 and a beta of 0.91. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52 week low of $139.57 and a 52 week high of $368.80.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, June 2nd. The network technology company reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.06. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 10.53% and a net margin of 7.95%.The business had revenue of $3 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.94 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.37 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 31.1% compared to the same quarter last year. 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. Analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Palo Alto Networks Profile

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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