Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Buys 1,673 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Key Points

• The Maryland State Retirement & Pension System increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 5.5%, purchasing an additional 1,673 shares, bringing its total holdings to 31,927 shares, valued at approximately $6,534,000.
• Several brokerages have recently reiterated their positive outlook on Palo Alto Networks, with target prices ranging from $215.00 to $232.00, highlighting a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" for the stock.
• Insider transactions show significant selling activity, with executives Dipak Golechha and Nir Zuk selling a combined 105,000 shares in recent months, while insiders collectively sold over 1.3 million shares valued at $260.7 million in the last 90 days.

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 5.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 31,927 shares of the network technology company's stock after purchasing an additional 1,673 shares during the quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System's holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $6,534,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Ignite Planners LLC lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 5.2% in the second quarter. Ignite Planners LLC now owns 7,162 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $1,402,000 after purchasing an additional 356 shares during the last quarter. Castle Rock Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 0.4% in the second quarter. Castle Rock Wealth Management LLC now owns 22,918 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $4,596,000 after purchasing an additional 102 shares during the last quarter. WoodTrust Financial Corp bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter valued at approximately $203,000. NBT Bank N A NY lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 6.3% in the second quarter. NBT Bank N A NY now owns 29,665 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $6,071,000 after purchasing an additional 1,763 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Abel Hall LLC lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 4.8% in the second quarter. Abel Hall LLC now owns 1,520 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $311,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $204.19, for a total value of $1,020,950.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 96,135 shares of the company's stock, valued at $19,629,805.65. This represents a 4.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 100,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.80, for a total value of $17,280,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 3,143,516 shares in the company, valued at approximately $543,199,564.80. The trade was a 3.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 1,315,130 shares of company stock valued at $260,687,367 over the last 90 days. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have weighed in on PANW. Wedbush reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $225.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Monday, September 15th. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $232.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Tuesday, August 19th. Bank of America raised Palo Alto Networks from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $215.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, August 19th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $217.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 19th. Finally, Truist Financial set a $220.00 target price on Palo Alto Networks and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 19th. Twenty-eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $214.95.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 1.2%

Shares of PANW stock opened at $215.17 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $143.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 134.06, a PEG ratio of 5.18 and a beta of 0.98. The business's fifty day moving average is $192.23 and its 200 day moving average is $189.02. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a twelve month low of $144.15 and a twelve month high of $217.94.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 18th. The network technology company reported $0.95 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $2.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.50 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 17.66% and a net margin of 12.30%.The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 15.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm 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. Equities research analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Palo Alto Networks 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.

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