Legal & General Group Plc Takes $1.97 Billion Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Key Points

• Legal & General Group acquired 5.77 million Palo Alto Networks shares worth approximately $1.97 billion, representing about 0.71% of the cybersecurity company. Institutional investors collectively own 79.82% of PANW.
• Palo Alto Networks exceeded quarterly expectations, reporting $0.85 in adjusted EPS versus $0.79 expected and $3 billion in revenue, up 31.1% year over year.
• Analyst sentiment remains favorable, with a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and a $364 price target, although the stock trades at a high price-to-earnings ratio of roughly 288.

Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 5,771,815 shares of the network technology company's stock, valued at approximately $1,968,304,000. Legal & General Group Plc owned about 0.71% of Palo Alto Networks at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of PANW. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 15.0% during the first quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 410,401 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $65,796,000 after buying an additional 53,485 shares during the period. Aviva PLC raised its position in Palo Alto Networks by 5.4% in 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 period. B&D White Capital Company LLC purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 1st quarter worth $353,000. Bridgewater Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter worth $2,159,000. Finally, Granite Islands Private Wealth LLC grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 43.6% during the 1st 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 period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $289.56, for a total transaction of $1,447,800.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 145,250 shares of the company's stock, valued at $42,058,590. This represents a 3.33% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 900 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $345.00, for a total value of $310,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 79,644 shares of the company's stock, valued at $27,477,180. This represents a 1.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 37,935 shares of company stock valued at $10,809,461 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company's stock.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PANW opened at $350.90 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $285.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 287.62, a P/E/G ratio of 12.00 and a beta of 0.91. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $338.70 and a 200 day moving average price of $243.49. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $139.57 and a fifty-two week high of $398.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 0.86.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, June 2nd. The network technology company reported $0.85 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.06. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 7.95% and a return on equity of 10.53%. The business had revenue of $3 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.94 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.37 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 31.1% compared to the same quarter last year. 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, sell-side analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on PANW shares. BNP Paribas Exane upped their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $330.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 1st. UBS Group reissued a "neutral" rating and set a $390.00 price target (up from $300.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, August 19th. Argus set a $425.00 price target on Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Tuesday, July 21st. Susquehanna reaffirmed a "positive" rating and issued a $350.00 price objective (up from $200.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Finally, Tigress Financial lifted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $245.00 to $430.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty have given a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $364.00.

Palo Alto Networks Company 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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.

Continue following MarketBeat

Add MarketBeat as your preferred source on Google to see our latest stories in your feed.

Add As Preferred Source