Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW Shares Acquired by Sheets Smith Wealth Management

Key Points

• Sheets Smith Wealth Management increased its Palo Alto Networks stake by 44.3% in the second quarter, purchasing 6,107 additional shares and bringing its holdings to 19,881 shares valued at $6.78 million. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of PANW.
• Analyst sentiment remains favorable, with several firms raising price targets as high as $435; MarketBeat reports a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and an average target of $368.42.
• PANW’s outlook is supported by AI-security demand, platformization and recent deal wins, but its valuation is stretched at a P/E above 300. Upcoming earnings and guidance could be significant catalysts, particularly if growth or margins disappoint.

Sheets Smith Wealth Management increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 44.3% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 19,881 shares of the network technology company's stock after buying an additional 6,107 shares during the quarter. Sheets Smith Wealth Management's holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $6,780,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PANW. Trilogy Capital Inc. boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. Trilogy Capital Inc. now owns 2,127 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $725,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares during the period. Wisconsin Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.2% in the second quarter. Wisconsin Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,206 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $1,093,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the period. Orrstown Financial Services Inc. increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.2% in the second quarter. Orrstown Financial Services Inc. now owns 3,197 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $1,090,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the period. WNY Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2.8% during the second quarter. WNY Asset Management LLC now owns 1,751 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $597,000 after buying an additional 47 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GSG Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 0.4% during the first quarter. GSG Advisors LLC now owns 12,536 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $2,010,000 after buying an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

More Palo Alto Networks News

Here are the key news stories impacting Palo Alto Networks this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Benchmark raised its price target to $400 from $340 and maintained a Buy rating, citing potential upside to next-generation security annual recurring revenue, revenue, operating income and margins. The forecast reinforces expectations that Palo Alto Networks’ AI-security strategy is gaining traction. Palo Alto Networks Gets a $400 Target
• Positive Sentiment: Investors are taking confidence from CrowdStrike’s stronger-than-expected results, which highlighted robust AI-related cybersecurity demand and lifted sentiment across the sector. Palo Alto Networks is viewed as a potential beneficiary of the same spending cycle. Palo Alto Networks Stock Trades Up
• Positive Sentiment: Platformization, adoption of AI-security products and recent deal wins are expected to support fourth-quarter growth. BTIG also assigned PANW a Buy rating, adding to broadly favorable analyst coverage. Palo Alto Networks to Report Q4 Earnings
• Neutral Sentiment: Earnings are the next major catalyst. Traders expect potentially significant movement after the report, while analysts are watching recurring revenue, margins, operating income and guidance—not just revenue and EPS. Expected Post-Earnings Stock Move
• Negative Sentiment: Acquisition-related costs could pressure results, and the stock’s triple-digit P/E ratio—above 300 based on the supplied data—means much of the AI-growth outlook may already be reflected in the price. Any shortfall in growth or guidance could trigger profit-taking. Palo Alto’s Rally Has One Big Problem Ahead of Earnings
• Negative Sentiment: Chief Accounting Officer Josh D. Paul sold 900 shares for approximately $318,000, reducing his position by 1.21%. The transaction is small relative to his remaining holdings but may create a modest sentiment headwind. Palo Alto Networks Insider Sale

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PANW has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Citizens Jmp lifted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $320.00 to $415.00 and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 12th. TD Cowen raised their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $360.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, August 17th. Oppenheimer restated an "outperform" rating and set a $400.00 price objective (up from $350.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th. Argus set a $425.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday, July 21st. Finally, Truist Financial set a $435.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty have given a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $368.42.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 2.9%

Shares of PANW stock opened at $371.59 on Friday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1 year low of $139.57 and a 1 year high of $398.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 0.86. The business's fifty day moving average is $344.62 and its 200-day moving average is $248.45. The stock has a market cap of $302.85 billion, a PE ratio of 304.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 11.74 and a beta of 0.91.

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 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $3 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.94 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.37 earnings per share. The company's revenue 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 analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Helle Thorning-Schmidt sold 700 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $346.85, for a total value of $242,795.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 5,898 shares in the company, valued at $2,045,721.30. The trade was a 10.61% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 900 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $353.77, for a total transaction of $318,393.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 73,354 shares of the company's stock, valued at $25,950,444.58. The trade was a 1.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 38,835 shares of company stock worth $11,127,854 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 1.40% of the company's stock.

About Palo Alto Networks

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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