Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group Buys Shares of 10,059 Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Key Points

• Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group has invested approximately $2.06 million in Palo Alto Networks, acquiring 10,059 shares of the cybersecurity company during the second quarter.
• In recent months, multiple institutional investors, including Nuveen LLC and Goldman Sachs Group Inc., have significantly increased their stakes in Palo Alto Networks, with institutional ownership now at 79.82%.
• Palo Alto Networks reported a 15.8% revenue increase year-over-year, with earnings per share of $0.95 for the latest quarter, exceeding analyst estimates.

Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 10,059 shares of the network technology company's stock, valued at approximately $2,058,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. St. Clair Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 0.3% in the second quarter. St. Clair Advisors LLC now owns 15,800 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $3,233,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Csenge Advisory Group increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 2.4% in the first quarter. Csenge Advisory Group now owns 2,271 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $381,000 after buying an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. GSG Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 0.4% in the first quarter. GSG Advisors LLC now owns 12,450 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $2,154,000 after buying an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. SYM FINANCIAL Corp increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 1.4% in the first quarter. SYM FINANCIAL Corp now owns 4,047 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $691,000 after buying an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Crew Capital Management Ltd. increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 2.5% in the first quarter. Crew Capital Management Ltd. now owns 2,310 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $394,000 after buying an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company's stock.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of Palo Alto Networks stock traded up $2.51 during trading on Friday, hitting $208.19. 8,643,982 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,444,992. The firm has a market capitalization of $139.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 129.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.90 and a beta of 0.98. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1-year low of $144.15 and a 1-year high of $210.39. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $188.60 and its 200 day moving average price is $186.52.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Monday, August 18th. The network technology company reported $0.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.06. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 17.66% and a net margin of 12.30%.The company had revenue of $2.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.50 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.75 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 15.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Palo Alto Networks has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.750-3.850 EPS. Q1 2026 guidance at 0.880-0.900 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 100,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $198.66, for a total value of $19,866,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 3,243,516 shares in the company, valued at approximately $644,356,888.56. The trade was a 2.99% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $201.85, for a total value of $1,009,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 101,135 shares of the company's stock, valued at $20,414,099.75. This represents a 4.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 568,622 shares of company stock valued at $106,468,778 over the last 90 days. 2.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PANW has been the topic of a number of research reports. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an "overweight" rating and issued a $223.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Friday, August 15th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $235.00 price target on Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday, July 29th. Westpark Capital reiterated a "hold" rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday, August 19th. UBS Group set a $185.00 price target on Palo Alto Networks and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 12th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities lowered their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $235.00 to $215.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 14th. Twenty-nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $212.39.

Palo Alto Networks Company 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.