Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW Shares Bought by Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund

Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 35.6% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 326,158 shares of the network technology company's stock after purchasing an additional 85,670 shares during the quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund's holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $52,290,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 20.7% in the 1st quarter. Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd now owns 45,711 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $7,328,000 after purchasing an additional 7,843 shares during the last quarter. Bollard Group LLC purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the 1st quarter worth approximately $78,000. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 18,547 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $2,973,000 after buying an additional 119 shares during the last quarter. Morningstar Investment Management LLC increased its position in Palo Alto Networks by 112.0% during the first quarter. Morningstar Investment Management LLC now owns 18,171 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $2,913,000 after buying an additional 9,599 shares during the period. Finally, GC Wealth Management RIA LLC increased its position in Palo Alto Networks by 7.6% during the first quarter. GC Wealth Management RIA LLC now owns 39,393 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $6,315,000 after buying an additional 2,772 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company's stock.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 0.6%

NASDAQ PANW opened at $323.79 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $263.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 265.40, a P/E/G ratio of 12.02 and a beta of 0.91. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52-week low of $139.57 and a 52-week high of $368.80. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $300.79 and a 200 day moving average price of $217.58. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04.

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 analysts' consensus estimates 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 company had revenue of $3 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.94 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.37 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 31.1% compared to the same quarter last year. 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.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Aparna Bawa sold 290 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $348.74, for a total value of $101,134.60. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 6,437 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,244,839.38. This trade represents a 4.31% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director James J. Goetz sold 20,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $279.90, for a total value of $5,598,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 20,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,598,000. This trade represents a 50.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 101,239 shares of company stock worth $27,174,360. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on PANW shares. Jefferies Financial Group set a $335.00 price objective on Palo Alto Networks and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Northland Securities lifted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $190.00 to $302.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Evercore reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $415.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $325.00 to $420.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 1st. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane increased their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $330.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty have issued a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $331.48.

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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