Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW Shares Newly Acquired by St. Louis Financial Planners Asset Management LLC

Key Points

• St. Louis Financial Planners Asset Management initiated a Palo Alto Networks position worth approximately $1.57 million, while institutional investors overall own 79.82% of the company’s shares.
• Analysts maintain a broadly positive outlook, with a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and an average price target of $393.02; individual targets range as high as $425.
• Palo Alto Networks reported quarterly revenue of $3.41 billion, up 34.5% year over year, and EPS of $1.02, exceeding estimates. However, insiders sold more than $20.8 million of stock over the past three months, and shares recently traded at $342.

St. Louis Financial Planners Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 4,183 shares of the network technology company's stock, valued at approximately $1,569,000.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the second quarter valued at about $25,833,462,000. Legal & General Group Plc acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,968,304,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,569,755,000. Deutsche Bank AG acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,481,236,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 16.0% during the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 22,476,753 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $3,603,473,000 after purchasing an additional 3,101,267 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an "overweight" rating and set a $425.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday, September 8th. HSBC decreased their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $201.00 to $190.00 in a report on Thursday, September 3rd. UBS Group reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $390.00 price objective (up from $300.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, August 19th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a "buy" rating and set a $425.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Finally, Citizens Jmp boosted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $320.00 to $415.00 and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-eight have given a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $393.02.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 27,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $391.60, for a total value of $10,769,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 117,750 shares in the company, valued at $46,110,900. This represents a 18.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director James Goetz sold 20,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $376.68, for a total transaction of $7,533,600.00. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders sold 54,210 shares of company stock worth $20,823,029. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company's stock.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

NASDAQ PANW traded down $28.27 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $342.00. The stock had a trading volume of 8,760,281 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,649,209. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52-week low of $139.57 and a 52-week high of $432.33. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $372.66 and a 200 day moving average of $301.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a current ratio of 0.87. The stock has a market cap of $279.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 670.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 10.66 and a beta of 0.93.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, September 1st. The network technology company reported $1.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $3.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.35 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.95 EPS. Palo Alto Networks's revenue for the quarter was up 34.5% compared to the same quarter last year. 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. Sell-side analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.31 earnings per share for the current year.

About Palo Alto Networks

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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