Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW Shares Sold by BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S

Key Points

• BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S cut its Palo Alto Networks stake by 30.3% in the first quarter, selling 18,045 shares and leaving it with 41,423 shares valued at about $6.64 million.
• Palo Alto Networks reported strong quarterly results, posting EPS of $0.85 versus $0.79 expected and revenue of $3.0 billion versus $2.94 billion estimated, with revenue up 31.1% year over year.
• Analysts turned more bullish after the earnings report, with several firms raising price targets to $350 and the consensus rating standing at “Moderate Buy” with a $306.59 target price.

BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S trimmed its holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 30.3% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 41,423 shares of the network technology company's stock after selling 18,045 shares during the quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S's holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $6,641,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 4.1% during the 4th 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 during the period. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 30,331,705 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $5,587,100,000 after acquiring an additional 594,789 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 11.9% in the fourth 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. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,989,257 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $2,934,935,000 after acquiring an additional 540,756 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,415,364,000. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of PANW opened at $287.78 on Monday. The business's 50-day moving average price is $228.24 and its 200 day moving average price is $192.69. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The stock has a market capitalization of $234.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 235.89, a P/E/G ratio of 10.69 and a beta of 0.94. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1-year low of $139.57 and a 1-year high of $302.95.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, June 2nd. The network technology company reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) 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 firm's revenue was up 31.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.37 earnings per share. 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. Analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. Needham & Company LLC boosted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $220.00 to $350.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $275.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $209.00 to $253.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group set a $335.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-eight have assigned a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $306.59.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 1,100 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $285.08, for a total transaction of $313,588.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 81,636 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,272,790.88. The trade was a 1.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director James J. Goetz sold 20,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the director directly owned 20,000 shares in the company, valued at $5,598,000. The trade was a 50.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 101,044 shares of company stock valued at $26,022,722 over the last quarter. 1.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About Palo Alto Networks

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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