Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW Shares Sold by BOCHK Asset Management Ltd

Key Points

• BOCHK Asset Management cut its Palo Alto Networks stake by 65.2% in the third quarter, selling 5,280 shares and retaining 2,820 shares valued at approximately $1.12 million.
• Institutional investors own 79.82% of PANW, while insiders have sold roughly $20.8 million worth of shares over the past 90 days.
• Palo Alto Networks exceeded quarterly earnings and revenue expectations, with revenue up 34.5% year over year. Despite some analyst downgrades, the stock retains a “Moderate Buy” consensus rating and an average price target of $398.55.

BOCHK Asset Management Ltd reduced its position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 65.2% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,820 shares of the network technology company's stock after selling 5,280 shares during the period. BOCHK Asset Management Ltd's holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $1,120,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in PANW. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $25,833,462,000. Legal & General Group Plc bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter valued at $1,968,304,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the second quarter valued at about $1,569,755,000. Deutsche Bank AG purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,481,236,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 16.0% in the first 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 buying an additional 3,101,267 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

NASDAQ:PANW opened at $351.72 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $372.02 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $270.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $287.98 billion, a PE ratio of 191.50, a P/E/G ratio of 11.31 and a beta of 0.93. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52-week low of $139.57 and a 52-week high of $432.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a current ratio of 0.87.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, September 1st. The network technology company reported $1.02 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.98 by $0.04. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 8.50% and a net margin of 2.67%. The business had revenue of $3.41 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.35 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.95 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 34.5% on a year-over-year basis. 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. Analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.32 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PANW has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein cut Palo Alto Networks from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and increased their target price for the company from $253.00 to $351.00 in a research note on Thursday, September 17th. Scotiabank lowered shares of Palo Alto Networks from a "sector outperform" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Susquehanna increased their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $350.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock a "positive" rating in a report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Roth Capital reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $300.00 target price (up from $210.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, September 2nd. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $420.00 price target on Palo Alto Networks and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 2nd. Thirty-nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $398.55.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 27,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 24th. The stock was 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 trade represents a 18.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director John P. Key sold 2,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $376.03, for a total transaction of $940,075.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 10,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,760,300. The trade was a 20.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 54,210 shares of company stock valued at $20,823,029. 0.55% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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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