Los Angeles Capital Management LLC Boosts Stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Key Points

• Los Angeles Capital Management increased its Palo Alto Networks stake by 35.7% in the fourth quarter, buying 9,589 more shares to bring its total to 36,412 shares valued at about $6.7 million.
• Institutional ownership remains high, with several other funds also boosting positions and 79.82% of Palo Alto Networks shares now held by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
• Analysts remain broadly positive after the company’s latest earnings beat, with Palo Alto Networks reporting $0.85 EPS on $3.0 billion in revenue, while Wall Street’s average rating is “Moderate Buy” and the average price target is $306.59.

Los Angeles Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 35.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 36,412 shares of the network technology company's stock after buying an additional 9,589 shares during the quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC's holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $6,707,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 147.7% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,761 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $1,230,000 after purchasing an additional 4,031 shares in the last quarter. Bison Wealth LLC boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 169.1% during the fourth quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 5,212 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $948,000 after purchasing an additional 3,275 shares in the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 66.3% during the second quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 3,484 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $713,000 after purchasing an additional 1,389 shares in the last quarter. Osterweis Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 11,100.0% during the second quarter. Osterweis Capital Management Inc. now owns 560 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $115,000 after purchasing an additional 555 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Main Street Financial Solutions LLC boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 6.0% during the second quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC now owns 4,398 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $900,000 after purchasing an additional 249 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PANW has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus set a $340.00 target price on Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, June 1st. Citigroup reiterated a "market outperform" rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Weiss Ratings downgraded Palo Alto Networks from a "hold (c)" rating to a "hold (c-)" rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Citizens Jmp reiterated a "market outperform" rating and set a $250.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-seven have assigned a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $306.59.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 62,904 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $258.65, for a total value of $16,270,119.60. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 235,983 shares in the company, valued at $61,037,002.95. This represents a 21.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora bought 68,085 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 27th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $146.87 per share, with a total value of $9,999,643.95. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer directly owned 343,394 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $50,434,276.78. The trade was a 24.73% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders sold 72,076 shares of company stock valued at $17,930,587. Insiders own 1.40% of the company's stock.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 2.1%

Shares of NASDAQ:PANW opened at $266.33 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52-week low of $139.57 and a 52-week high of $302.95. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $207.23 and its 200-day simple moving average is $186.93. The company has a market capitalization of $217.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 218.30, a P/E/G ratio of 9.55 and a beta of 0.94.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.06. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 10.53% and a net margin of 7.95%.The business had revenue of $3 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.94 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.37 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 31.1% on a year-over-year basis. 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, equities research analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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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