Night Squared LP Grows Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Key Points

• Night Squared LP boosted its Palo Alto Networks stake by 35.4% in the fourth quarter, bringing its holding to 27,136 shares valued at about $5.0 million.
• Several other hedge funds also increased positions, and 79.82% of PANW shares are now owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
• Palo Alto Networks reported better-than-expected quarterly results with EPS of $0.85 on revenue of $3.0 billion, and analysts currently rate the stock a Moderate Buy with an average price target of $306.59.

Night Squared LP increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 35.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 27,136 shares of the network technology company's stock after acquiring an additional 7,094 shares during the quarter. Night Squared LP's holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $4,998,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 62,904 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $258.65, for a total value of $16,270,119.60. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 235,983 shares in the company, valued at approximately $61,037,002.95. This represents a 21.05% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director John P. Key sold 7,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $279.24, for a total transaction of $2,094,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 12,500 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,490,500. This trade represents a 37.50% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 101,044 shares of company stock worth $26,022,722 over the last ninety days. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $279.90 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $228.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 229.43, a PEG ratio of 10.57 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $221.20 and a 200 day moving average price of $190.62. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52 week low of $139.57 and a 52 week high of $302.95.

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 the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $3 billion during 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%. Palo Alto Networks's revenue was up 31.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.37 EPS. 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. Sell-side analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.03 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PANW has been the subject of several analyst reports. UBS Group set a $300.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Piper Sandler reissued an "overweight" rating and set a $345.00 price target (up from $265.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Robert W. Baird set a $320.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Palo Alto Networks from a "hold (c)" rating to a "hold (c-)" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 4th. Finally, William Blair reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Tuesday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-eight have issued a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $306.59.

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.

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