Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW Shares Bought by Assenagon Asset Management S.A.

Key Points

• Assenagon Asset Management nearly doubled its Palo Alto Networks stake, increasing holdings by 93.5% to 901,261 shares worth approximately $307.3 million. Institutional investors collectively own 79.82% of PANW.
• Analyst sentiment remains positive, with a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and an average price target of $333.76; Morgan Stanley and Tigress Financial recently raised their targets to $387 and $430, respectively.
• Palo Alto Networks reported quarterly EPS of $0.85 versus the $0.79 estimate and revenue of $3 billion, up 31.1% year over year. However, insiders sold 101,239 shares worth $27.2 million during the latest quarter.

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 93.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 901,261 shares of the network technology company's stock after acquiring an additional 435,416 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. owned 0.11% of Palo Alto Networks worth $307,348,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 4.1% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 67,929,063 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $12,512,533,000 after buying an additional 2,659,100 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 30,331,705 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $5,587,100,000 after acquiring an additional 594,789 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 16.0% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 22,476,753 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $3,603,473,000 after acquiring an additional 3,101,267 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,989,257 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $2,934,935,000 after acquiring an additional 540,756 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the fourth quarter worth about $1,415,364,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, Director John P. Key sold 7,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $279.24, for a total value of $2,094,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 12,500 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,490,500. This represents a 37.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 62,904 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $258.65, for a total transaction of $16,270,119.60. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 235,983 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $61,037,002.95. The trade was a 21.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders sold 101,239 shares of company stock valued at $27,174,360. 1.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on PANW shares. William Blair reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday, June 16th. Tigress Financial raised their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $245.00 to $430.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. Morgan Stanley restated an "overweight" rating and issued a $387.00 price target (up from $320.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday, July 21st. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $209.00 to $253.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Finally, UBS Group set a $300.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty have assigned a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $333.76.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

PANW stock opened at $359.49 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 0.86. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1 year low of $139.57 and a 1 year high of $376.98. The firm has a market cap of $292.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 294.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 12.19 and a beta of 0.91. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $316.24 and a 200-day simple moving average of $227.25.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results 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 business had revenue of $3 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.94 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 10.53% and a net margin of 7.95%.The company's revenue was up 31.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business 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. On average, equities analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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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