Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW Shares Sold by Gradient Investments LLC

Key Points

• Gradient Investments reduced its Palo Alto Networks stake by 32.9% in the third quarter, selling 57,700 shares and retaining 117,516 shares valued at approximately $46.7 million. Institutional investors collectively own 79.82% of PANW.
• Wall Street remains broadly optimistic, with 38 analysts rating the stock a Buy and 12 assigning a Hold rating. The consensus rating is “Moderate Buy,” with an average price target of $391.32.
• Palo Alto Networks recently beat quarterly earnings and revenue expectations, reporting $1.02 in EPS and $3.41 billion in revenue, with revenue up 34.5% year over year. Shares traded near $399.54, while insiders sold approximately $20.7 million worth of stock over the past 90 days.

Gradient Investments LLC lessened its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 32.9% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 117,516 shares of the network technology company's stock after selling 57,700 shares during the quarter. Gradient Investments LLC's holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $46,690,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 15.0% in the first quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 410,401 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $65,796,000 after purchasing an additional 53,485 shares during the period. Aviva PLC lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 5.4% in the fourth quarter. Aviva PLC now owns 568,804 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $104,774,000 after acquiring an additional 29,230 shares during the last quarter. B&D White Capital Company LLC acquired a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the first quarter valued at approximately $353,000. Bridgewater Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the second quarter valued at approximately $2,159,000. Finally, Granite Islands Private Wealth LLC raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 43.6% during the 1st quarter. Granite Islands Private Wealth LLC now owns 15,342 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $2,453,000 after purchasing an additional 4,659 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have weighed in on PANW. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "hold (c-)" rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Tuesday, September 1st. Rosenblatt Securities upped their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $355.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Morgan Stanley set a $410.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, September 21st. New Street Research set a $415.00 price objective on Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday, August 18th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC restated a "buy" rating and issued a $425.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Thirty-eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $391.32.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, Director John Key sold 2,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $376.03, for a total transaction of $940,075.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 10,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,760,300. This represents a 20.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 400 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $395.70, for a total transaction of $158,280.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 77,987 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $30,859,455.90. The trade was a 0.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 53,960 shares of company stock valued at $20,719,959 over the last 90 days. 1.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Palo Alto Networks stock traded down $6.03 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $399.54. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,884,136 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,254,140. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12 month low of $139.57 and a 12 month high of $432.33. The company has a quick ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. The company has a market capitalization of $326.83 billion, a PE ratio of 786.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 12.09 and a beta of 0.93. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $367.69 and its 200-day moving average price is $290.71.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, September 1st. The network technology company reported $1.02 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.98 by $0.04. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 2.67% and a return on equity of 8.50%. The company had revenue of $3.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.35 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.95 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter 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 anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Palo Alto Networks Company Profile

Palo Alto Networks, Inc is a cybersecurity company that provides solutions designed to help organizations protect networks, endpoints, cloud environments, applications and users from cyber threats. Its offerings include next-generation firewalls, cloud-delivered security services, secure access service edge (SASE) solutions, endpoint protection and security operations tools.

The company also provides platforms and services for cloud security, threat intelligence, incident response, vulnerability management and the automation of security operations.

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