Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW Shares Newly Purchased by AK Global Asset Management LLC

Key Points

• AK Global Asset Management purchased 6,320 Palo Alto Networks shares worth approximately $2.51 million, making PANW about 2% of its portfolio. Institutional investors collectively own 79.82% of the company.
• Palo Alto Networks exceeded quarterly expectations, reporting $1.02 in EPS versus the $0.98 consensus and $3.41 billion in revenue, up 34.5% year over year.
• Analysts maintain a Moderate Buy consensus, with 39 Buy ratings and 11 Holds and an average price target of $398.55; meanwhile, insiders sold 54,210 shares worth roughly $20.8 million over the past three months.

AK Global Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 6,320 shares of the network technology company's stock, valued at approximately $2,511,000. Palo Alto Networks accounts for about 2.0% of AK Global Asset Management LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 14th biggest position.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in PANW. Consilium Wealth Advisory LLC lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. Consilium Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 1,117 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $444,000 after acquiring an additional 27 shares during the period. Grove Bank & Trust grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 7.0% in the 3rd quarter. Grove Bank & Trust now owns 472 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $188,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares during the period. Riversedge Advisors LLC raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. Riversedge Advisors LLC now owns 1,285 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $511,000 after buying an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. Tenon Financial LLC raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 5.3% during the 3rd quarter. Tenon Financial LLC now owns 661 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $263,000 after buying an additional 33 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Trilogy Capital Inc. raised 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 buying an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company's stock.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 1.8%

Shares of PANW opened at $394.49 on Thursday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12-month low of $139.57 and a 12-month high of $432.33. The business's 50 day moving average is $371.40 and its 200 day moving average is $268.05. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. The company has a market capitalization of $322.69 billion, a PE ratio of 773.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 10.95 and a beta of 0.93.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. The business had revenue of $3.41 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.35 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 8.50% and a net margin of 2.67%. The company's revenue was up 34.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.95 EPS. 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. Research analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Aparna Bawa sold 250 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $412.28, for a total value of $103,070.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 4,427 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,825,163.56. This represents a 5.35% 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 J. Goetz sold 20,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $376.68, for a total transaction of $7,533,600.00. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders sold 54,210 shares of company stock valued at $20,823,029. Insiders own 1.40% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on PANW shares. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a "buy" rating and issued a $390.00 price target (up from $371.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, September 2nd. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $355.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Citigroup reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $440.00 price objective (up from $410.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Thursday, October 15th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $415.00 target price on Palo Alto Networks and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 19th. Finally, New Street Research set a $415.00 target price on Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Tuesday, August 18th. Thirty-nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $398.55.

Palo Alto Networks Company Profile

Palo Alto Networks, Inc NASDAQ: PANW is a global cybersecurity company that helps organizations protect networks, cloud environments, endpoints, and digital infrastructure. Its offerings are designed to prevent cyberattacks, identify security risks, monitor activity, and support incident response across enterprise, government, and service-provider environments.

The company's portfolio includes network security products such as next-generation firewalls and security operations tools; Prisma, its cloud security platform; and Cortex, a suite focused on endpoint protection, threat detection, security analytics, and automated response.

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