Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW Holdings Lessened by Community Financial Services Group LLC

Key Points

• Community Financial Services Group reduced its Palo Alto Networks stake by 7.3% in the third quarter, selling 3,360 shares and retaining 42,860 shares valued at approximately $17 million. Institutional investors collectively own 79.82% of PANW.
• Palo Alto Networks recently beat quarterly earnings and revenue expectations, reporting $1.02 in EPS and $3.41 billion in revenue, with revenue up 34.5% year over year.
• Analyst sentiment remains positive: 39 analysts rate PANW a Buy and 11 rate it a Hold, producing a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and a $393.02 price target. However, insiders sold roughly $20.8 million of stock over the past 90 days.

Community Financial Services Group LLC lowered its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 7.3% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 42,860 shares of the network technology company's stock after selling 3,360 shares during the quarter. Palo Alto Networks comprises approximately 2.6% of Community Financial Services Group LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th biggest position. Community Financial Services Group LLC's holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $16,983,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Saxony Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Saxony Capital Management LLC now owns 2,996 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $1,190,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares during the period. Weaver Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the third quarter valued at approximately $687,000. WealthPLAN Partners LLC increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 16.7% in the third quarter. WealthPLAN Partners LLC now owns 1,269 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $504,000 after acquiring an additional 182 shares during the last quarter. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 8.7% in the third quarter. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 7,851 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $3,119,000 after acquiring an additional 630 shares during the last quarter. Finally, WealthPlan Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 5.2% in the third quarter. WealthPlan Investment Management LLC now owns 9,803 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $3,895,000 after acquiring an additional 488 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 27,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $391.60, for a total value of $10,769,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 117,750 shares in the company, valued at approximately $46,110,900. This represents a 18.93% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director James Goetz sold 20,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $376.68, for a total value of $7,533,600.00. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 54,210 shares of company stock worth $20,823,029 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 1.40% of the company's stock.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

PANW stock opened at $370.27 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $302.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 726.03, a P/E/G ratio of 10.79 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.87. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $373.10 and a 200 day simple moving average of $300.73. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1 year low of $139.57 and a 1 year high of $432.33.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, September 1st. The network technology company reported $1.02 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.98 by $0.04. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 2.67% and a return on equity of 8.50%. The firm had revenue of $3.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.35 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.95 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 34.5% on a year-over-year basis. Palo Alto Networks has set its FY 2027 guidance at 4.160-4.190 EPS and its Q1 2027 guidance at 0.960-0.980 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PANW has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC restated a "buy" rating and set a $425.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, September 2nd. TD Cowen reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $440.00 price target (up from $400.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Friday, October 2nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $430.00 price target (up from $350.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, September 2nd. New Street Research set a $415.00 price target on Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday, August 18th. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $410.00 price objective on Palo Alto Networks and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, September 21st. Thirty-nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $393.02.

Palo Alto Networks Profile

Palo Alto Networks, Inc is a cybersecurity company that provides solutions designed to help organizations protect networks, endpoints, cloud environments, applications and users from cyber threats. Its offerings include next-generation firewalls, cloud-delivered security services, secure access service edge (SASE) solutions, endpoint protection and security operations tools.

The company also provides platforms and services for cloud security, threat intelligence, incident response, vulnerability management and the automation of security operations.

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