Lazard Asset Management LLC Has $332.42 Million Stock Holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Key Points

• Lazard Asset Management increased its Palo Alto Networks stake by 82.8% in the first quarter, acquiring 939,344 additional shares and bringing its holdings to 2.07 million shares valued at approximately $332.4 million.
• Analyst sentiment remains broadly positive, with a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $331.48; several firms recently raised their targets as high as $380.
• Palo Alto Networks beat quarterly expectations, reporting $0.85 in earnings per share and $3 billion in revenue, up 31.1% year over year. However, insiders sold more than 101,000 shares worth approximately $27.2 million over the past three months.

Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 82.8% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,073,481 shares of the network technology company's stock after purchasing an additional 939,344 shares during the quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC owned approximately 0.25% of Palo Alto Networks worth $332,421,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PANW. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 15.0% during the 1st quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 410,401 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $65,796,000 after buying an additional 53,485 shares in the last quarter. Aviva PLC raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 5.4% during the fourth quarter. Aviva PLC now owns 568,804 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $104,774,000 after acquiring an additional 29,230 shares during the last quarter. B&D White Capital Company LLC acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the first quarter valued at $353,000. Granite Islands Private Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 43.6% in the first quarter. Granite Islands Private Wealth LLC now owns 15,342 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $2,453,000 after acquiring an additional 4,659 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp increased its position in Palo Alto Networks by 8.8% in the fourth quarter. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp now owns 48,458 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $8,926,000 after purchasing an additional 3,926 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently commented on PANW. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $275.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. BTIG Research upped their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $333.00 to $380.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th. Mizuho raised their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $265.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Guggenheim downgraded Palo Alto Networks from a "neutral" rating to a "reduce" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 27th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane raised their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $330.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty have issued a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $331.48.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 900 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $345.00, for a total transaction of $310,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 79,644 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $27,477,180. This trade represents a 1.12% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director James J. Goetz sold 20,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $279.90, for a total value of $5,598,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 20,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,598,000. This trade represents a 50.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last three months, insiders sold 101,239 shares of company stock valued at $27,174,360. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company's stock.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

PANW stock opened at $323.79 on Monday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a one year low of $139.57 and a one year high of $368.80. The stock has a market cap of $263.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 265.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 12.02 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $300.79 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $217.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.86.

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

About Palo Alto Networks

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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