Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. Sells 151,372 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Key Points

• Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. reduced its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 8.1% during Q1, now holding approximately $292.68 million in shares, representing about 1.2% of its investment portfolio.
• Major investors like Vanguard Group and Goldman Sachs increased their stakes in Palo Alto Networks, with Vanguard owning over $10 billion in shares.
• Wall Street analysts have a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" for Palo Alto Networks, with a target price averaging around $211.68 per share, indicating optimism for the company's growth potential.

Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 8.1% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,715,211 shares of the network technology company's stock after selling 151,372 shares during the quarter. Palo Alto Networks accounts for approximately 1.2% of Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 11th biggest position. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. owned approximately 0.26% of Palo Alto Networks worth $292,684,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Capital A Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. HWG Holdings LP purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 1st quarter valued at $31,000. Dagco Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 1st quarter valued at $33,000. SWAN Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 100.0% during the 4th quarter. SWAN Capital LLC now owns 200 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, WPG Advisers LLC purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the first quarter valued at about $37,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the executive vice president owned 177,954 shares in the company, valued at approximately $34,008,788.94. The trade was a 40.43% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.20, for a total value of $128,940.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 37,723 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,948,576.60. This trade represents a 1.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 569,422 shares of company stock worth $106,629,618. Insiders own 2.50% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently commented on PANW. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $232.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday, August 19th. JMP Securities reissued a "market outperform" rating and issued a $212.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Tuesday, August 19th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $217.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 19th. Truist Financial set a $220.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 19th. Finally, UBS Group set a $185.00 price target on Palo Alto Networks and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 12th. Twenty-eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $211.68.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 1.1%

Palo Alto Networks stock traded up $2.11 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $194.46. The company had a trading volume of 5,667,224 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,308,827. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52 week low of $144.15 and a 52 week high of $210.39. The company has a 50 day moving average of $188.33 and a 200-day moving average of $185.85. The firm has a market cap of $130.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 121.16, a PEG ratio of 4.64 and a beta of 0.98.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 18th. The network technology company reported $0.95 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.89 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $2.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.50 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 12.30% and a return on equity of 17.66%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 15.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.75 earnings per share. Palo Alto Networks has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.750-3.850 EPS. Q1 2026 guidance at 0.880-0.900 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Palo Alto Networks Company Profile

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.