Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW Shares Acquired by Janney Montgomery Scott LLC

Key Points

• Janney Montgomery Scott LLC boosted its Palo Alto Networks position by 15% in the first quarter, adding 53,485 shares and bringing its total stake to 410,401 shares valued at about $65.8 million.
• Palo Alto Networks reported strong quarterly results, including EPS of $0.85 versus the $0.79 estimate and revenue of $3.0 billion, up 31.1% year over year.
• Analysts remain broadly bullish, with several firms raising price targets; the stock currently carries a Moderate Buy consensus and an average target price of $306.59.

Janney Montgomery Scott LLC increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 15.0% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 410,401 shares of the network technology company's stock after purchasing an additional 53,485 shares during the period. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC owned approximately 0.05% of Palo Alto Networks worth $65,796,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Darwin Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter valued at about $25,000. Steph & Co. increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 88.2% during the 4th quarter. Steph & Co. now owns 143 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares in the last quarter. Knuff & Co LLC acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Sittner & Nelson LLC boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 73.8% during the fourth quarter. Sittner & Nelson LLC now owns 146 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 62 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Luken Investment Analytics LLC lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 196.2% during the fourth quarter. Luken Investment Analytics LLC now owns 154 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 102 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company's stock.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PANW opened at $304.20 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $247.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 249.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 11.30 and a beta of 0.94. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $241.22 and its 200 day simple moving average is $196.11. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12-month low of $139.57 and a 12-month high of $306.24.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, June 2nd. The network technology company reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $3 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.94 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.37 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter 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. Equities research analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.03 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently commented on PANW. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $275.00 to $350.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. FBN Securities reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $330.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Citigroup reissued a "market outperform" rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $209.00 to $253.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Finally, Scotiabank reiterated a "sector outperform" rating and issued a $320.00 price target (up from $180.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Two research 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 given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $306.59.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $289.56, for a total transaction of $1,447,800.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 145,250 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $42,058,590. The trade was a 3.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director James J. Goetz sold 20,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $279.90, for a total value of $5,598,000.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 20,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,598,000. This represents a 50.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 106,389 shares of company stock worth $27,570,630 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company's stock.

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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