Ion Asset Management Ltd. Sells 1,750 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Key Points

• Ion Asset Management Ltd. has reduced its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 20.1%, now holding 6,950 shares valued at $1.186 million after selling 1,750 shares.
• Several hedge funds have shifted their investments in Palo Alto Networks, with notable new stakes and increases from Capital A Wealth Management and SWAN Capital LLC.
• Palo Alto Networks shares saw a slight increase of 0.4% and the company reported earnings of $0.95 per share, exceeding analysts' expectations and showcasing a revenue growth of 15.8% year-over-year.

Ion Asset Management Ltd. lowered its stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 20.1% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 6,950 shares of the network technology company's stock after selling 1,750 shares during the quarter. Ion Asset Management Ltd.'s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $1,186,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in PANW. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the first quarter valued at about $810,047,000. Nuveen Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings 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 valued at $1,120,615,000 after purchasing an additional 3,047,625 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 92.7% in the 4th 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 valued at $1,082,895,000 after acquiring an additional 2,862,718 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 18,802.8% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,410,290 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $411,292,000 after acquiring an additional 2,397,539 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 41.9% in the 1st 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 acquiring an additional 2,134,735 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PANW has been the topic of several research reports. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $217.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 19th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. TD Securities reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $230.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $230.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday. Finally, KeyCorp cut Palo Alto Networks from an "overweight" rating to a "sector weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Twenty-eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $211.68.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 1.1%

NASDAQ:PANW traded up $2.11 on Friday, hitting $194.46. The company's stock had a trading volume of 5,667,224 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,308,827. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $188.33 and a two-hundred day moving average of $185.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $130.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 121.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.64 and a beta of 0.98. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a one year low of $144.15 and a one year high of $210.39.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 18th. The network technology company reported $0.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.06. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 17.66% and a net margin of 12.30%.The firm had revenue of $2.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.50 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.75 earnings per share. The business'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, sell-side analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $201.85, for a total value of $1,009,250.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 101,135 shares of the company's stock, valued at $20,414,099.75. This represents a 4.71% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $191.11, for a total transaction of $23,081,119.14. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 177,954 shares in the company, valued at approximately $34,008,788.94. This represents a 40.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 569,422 shares of company stock valued at $106,629,618 over the last three months. Company insiders own 2.50% of the company's stock.

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.