Sunbelt Securities Inc. raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 86.1% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 9,364 shares of the network technology company's stock after buying an additional 4,331 shares during the quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc.'s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $1,501,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,415,364,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 4.1% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1,665.1% in the 1st quarter. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. now owns 2,761,909 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $442,788,000 after buying an additional 2,605,433 shares during the period. Amundi boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 67.1% during the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 6,297,833 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $1,009,669,000 after acquiring an additional 2,528,299 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 11.9% in the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 19,375,486 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $3,568,964,000 after acquiring an additional 2,065,776 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In
Several brokerages have recently issued reports on PANW. Wedbush increased their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $300.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Barclays reiterated an "overweight" rating and set a $315.00 target price (up from $220.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Scotiabank restated a "sector outperform" rating and issued a $320.00 price target (up from $180.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. BNP Paribas Exane increased their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $330.00 to $380.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 1st. Finally, BTIG Research boosted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $333.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty have assigned a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $331.48.
Get Our Latest Report on Palo Alto Networks
Insider Buying and Selling
In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $289.56, for a total transaction of $1,447,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 145,250 shares of the company's stock, valued at $42,058,590. The trade was a 3.33% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Helle Thorning-Schmidt sold 700 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $346.85, for a total value of $242,795.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 5,898 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,045,721.30. This represents a 10.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 101,239 shares of company stock valued at $27,174,360 over the last 90 days. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.
Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 1.5%
NASDAQ PANW opened at $314.15 on Thursday. 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 of $305.12 and a two-hundred day moving average of $220.50. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The stock has a market capitalization of $256.03 billion, a PE ratio of 257.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 11.84 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 analysts' consensus estimates of $0.79 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $3 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.94 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 7.95% and a return on equity of 10.53%. The company's revenue was up 31.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $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. As a group, research analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.
About Palo Alto Networks
(
Free Report)
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.
Further Reading
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