J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG Lowers Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Key Points

• J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG cut its Palo Alto Networks stake by 72.9% in the first quarter, selling 63,215 shares and leaving it with 23,540 shares valued at about $3.77 million.
• Insiders have also been selling: EVP Lee Klarich sold 62,904 shares and CAO Josh D. Paul sold 1,100 shares, bringing total insider sales over the last 90 days to 101,239 shares worth $27.17 million.
• Analysts remain upbeat on PANW, with several raising price targets; the consensus rating is Moderate Buy and the average target price is $319.96, while the stock recently traded up 1.3% to $330.30 after a strong quarterly earnings beat.

J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG decreased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 72.9% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 23,540 shares of the network technology company's stock after selling 63,215 shares during the quarter. J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG's holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $3,766,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 19.5% during the first quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 61,368 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $9,838,000 after buying an additional 10,000 shares in the last quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 6.5% during the 1st quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC now owns 41,207 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $6,606,000 after acquiring an additional 2,523 shares during the period. Avion Wealth increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 59.9% in the 1st quarter. Avion Wealth now owns 347 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $55,000 after purchasing an additional 130 shares in the last quarter. Persium Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 30.2% in the 1st quarter. Persium Advisors LLC now owns 4,669 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $749,000 after purchasing an additional 1,083 shares during the period. Finally, Global Assets Advisory LLC raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 5.2% in the 1st quarter. Global Assets Advisory LLC now owns 6,578 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $1,055,000 after purchasing an additional 324 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 62,904 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $258.65, for a total transaction of $16,270,119.60. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 235,983 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $61,037,002.95. The trade was a 21.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 1,100 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $285.08, for a total value of $313,588.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 81,636 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $23,272,790.88. The trade was a 1.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 101,239 shares of company stock valued at $27,174,360 in the last 90 days. 1.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PANW has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $325.00 to $420.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. Benchmark increased their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $270.00 to $340.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $220.00 to $350.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Citigroup reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $400.00 price objective (up from $340.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Monday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group set a $335.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have given a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $319.96.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 1.3%

PANW stock opened at $330.30 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $269.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 270.74, a PEG ratio of 12.10 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12 month low of $139.57 and a 12 month high of $368.17. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $277.09 and a two-hundred day moving average of $207.76.

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. The business had revenue of $3 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations 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 for the quarter was up 31.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.37 EPS. 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. As a group, analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.03 earnings per share 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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