Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW Shares Sold by Americana Partners LLC

Key Points

• Americana Partners reduced its Palo Alto Networks stake by 26.4% in the third quarter, selling 27,010 shares and retaining 75,465 shares valued at approximately $30.0 million. Institutional investors and hedge funds collectively own 79.82% of the company.
• Palo Alto Networks reported quarterly adjusted EPS of $1.02, exceeding estimates of $0.98, while revenue reached $3.41 billion and rose 34.5% year over year.
• The stock opened at $365.87, below the analyst consensus price target of $398.55; analysts maintain a “Moderate Buy” consensus, although insiders sold more than $20.8 million of shares over the past three months.

Americana Partners LLC lowered its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 26.4% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 75,465 shares of the network technology company's stock after selling 27,010 shares during the period. Americana Partners LLC's holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $29,983,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Consilium Wealth Advisory LLC increased its position in Palo Alto Networks by 2.5% during the third quarter. Consilium Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 1,117 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $444,000 after buying an additional 27 shares during the period. Grove Bank & Trust raised 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 valued at $188,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. Riversedge Advisors LLC boosted 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 worth $511,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares during the period. Tenon Financial LLC boosted 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 worth $263,000 after purchasing an additional 33 shares during the period. Finally, WPG Advisers LLC grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 5.8% during the 3rd quarter. WPG Advisers LLC now owns 657 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $261,000 after purchasing an additional 36 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 3.9%

Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $365.87 on Friday. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $372.15 and its 200 day moving average price is $269.89. The company has a market cap of $299.56 billion, a PE ratio of 717.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 10.92 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.87. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1-year low of $139.57 and a 1-year high of $432.33.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, September 1st. The network technology company reported $1.02 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.98 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $3.41 billion during 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%. Palo Alto Networks's quarterly revenue was up 34.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.95 earnings per share. 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. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have commented on PANW shares. New Street Research set a $415.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday, August 18th. Truist Financial set a $400.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, September 2nd. HSBC lowered their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $201.00 to $190.00 in a report on Thursday, September 3rd. UBS Group restated a "neutral" rating and issued a $390.00 price target (up from $300.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, August 19th. Finally, Evercore reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Monday, August 31st. Thirty-nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $398.55.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director James J. Goetz sold 20,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $376.68, for a total transaction of $7,533,600.00. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director John Key sold 2,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $376.03, for a total value of $940,075.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 10,000 shares in the company, valued at $3,760,300. This trade represents a 20.00% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 54,210 shares of company stock worth $20,823,029. Insiders own 1.40% of the company's stock.

About Palo Alto Networks

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.