Investment Management Corp of Ontario Grows Stock Holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Key Points

• Investment Management Corp of Ontario increased its Palo Alto Networks stake by 21.3% in the fourth quarter, ending with 82,919 shares valued at about $15.3 million.
• Several other institutional investors also added to PANW, and hedge funds and institutions now own 79.82% of the company’s stock.
• Analysts remain bullish on Palo Alto Networks after its latest earnings beat, with the company reporting $0.85 EPS versus $0.79 expected and revenue rising 31.1% year over year; the consensus rating is Moderate Buy with a $306.59 price target.

Investment Management Corp of Ontario boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 21.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 82,919 shares of the network technology company's stock after purchasing an additional 14,571 shares during the period. Investment Management Corp of Ontario's holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $15,274,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Element Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the 4th quarter valued at $3,101,000. Evolve Private Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 4th quarter worth $1,701,000. First Manhattan CO. LLC. grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. First Manhattan CO. LLC. now owns 6,367 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $1,173,000 after acquiring an additional 85 shares during the period. Capitolis Liquid Global Markets LLC bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the fourth quarter worth $5,272,000. Finally, Claro Advisors Inc. increased its position in Palo Alto Networks by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. Claro Advisors Inc. now owns 10,173 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $1,874,000 after acquiring an additional 295 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the company. Wedbush increased their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $300.00 to $340.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Argus upped their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $222.00 to $320.00 in a research report on Friday, June 5th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $335.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $209.00 to $253.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $270.00 to $335.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-eight have given a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $306.59.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.42, for a total value of $802,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 150,250 shares in the company, valued at $24,103,105. This represents a 3.22% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director James J. Goetz sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $279.90, for a total transaction of $5,598,000.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 20,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,598,000. This trade represents a 50.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 101,044 shares of company stock worth $26,022,722 in the last quarter. 1.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 0.8%

Shares of PANW stock opened at $282.13 on Thursday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52-week low of $139.57 and a 52-week high of $302.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 0.86. The firm has a market capitalization of $229.94 billion, a PE ratio of 231.25, a PEG ratio of 10.39 and a beta of 0.94. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $223.60 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $191.30.

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 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $3 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.94 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 10.53% and a net margin of 7.95%.The business's revenue was up 31.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.37 earnings per share. 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. On average, analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.03 EPS for the current fiscal 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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