LGT Fund Management Co Ltd. Decreases Stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Key Points

• LGT Fund Management reduced its Palo Alto Networks stake by 30.3% in the first quarter, selling 32,857 shares and leaving it with 75,632 shares worth about $12.1 million.
• Several other institutional investors have also adjusted holdings, while insiders sold shares recently; over the last three months, insiders sold 101,239 shares worth $27.2 million.
• Analysts remain upbeat on PANW after strong earnings: Palo Alto Networks beat quarterly EPS and revenue estimates, and Wall Street’s consensus rating is Moderate Buy with a target price of $318.65.

LGT Fund Management Co Ltd. cut its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 30.3% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 75,632 shares of the network technology company's stock after selling 32,857 shares during the quarter. LGT Fund Management Co Ltd.'s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $12,125,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 15.0% in 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 acquiring an additional 53,485 shares in the last quarter. Aviva PLC lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 5.4% in the 4th quarter. Aviva PLC now owns 568,804 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $104,774,000 after purchasing an additional 29,230 shares during the last quarter. Granite Islands Private Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 43.6% in 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 purchasing an additional 4,659 shares during the last quarter. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 8.8% in the 4th quarter. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp now owns 48,458 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $8,926,000 after purchasing an additional 3,926 shares during the period. Finally, Oak Thistle LLC purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,554,000. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 1,100 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 81,636 shares in the company, valued at $23,272,790.88. This trade represents a 1.33% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director John P. Key sold 7,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $279.24, for a total transaction of $2,094,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 12,500 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,490,500. This trade represents a 37.50% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 101,239 shares of company stock valued at $27,174,360 over the last three months. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PANW has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Wedbush lifted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $300.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Robert W. Baird set a $320.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $255.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group set a $335.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Finally, Argus raised their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $222.00 to $320.00 in a report on Friday, June 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have issued a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $318.65.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of Palo Alto Networks stock traded down $12.40 on Friday, reaching $325.91. 4,677,069 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 7,047,614. The firm has a market capitalization of $265.62 billion, a PE ratio of 267.14, a PEG ratio of 12.10 and a beta of 0.91. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1-year low of $139.57 and a 1-year high of $368.17. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $274.08 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $206.64. 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 (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, June 2nd. The network technology company reported $0.85 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 firm had revenue of $3 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.94 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.37 earnings per share. The firm's 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, research analysts anticipate 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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