Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW Shares Sold by Middleton & Co. Inc. MA

Key Points

• Middleton & Co. reduced its Palo Alto Networks stake by 5.8% in the third quarter, selling 5,298 shares and retaining 86,365 shares valued at approximately $34.3 million. Institutional investors collectively own 79.82% of PANW.
• Analyst sentiment remains favorable: 39 analysts rate the stock a Buy and 11 a Hold, resulting in a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and an average price target of $398.55.
• Palo Alto Networks exceeded quarterly expectations, reporting $1.02 in EPS versus a $0.98 estimate and $3.41 billion in revenue, up 34.5% year over year. Company insiders sold 54,210 shares worth about $20.8 million during the last quarter.

Middleton & Co. Inc. MA reduced its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 5.8% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 86,365 shares of the network technology company's stock after selling 5,298 shares during the quarter. Palo Alto Networks comprises about 3.6% of Middleton & Co. Inc. MA's portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest position. Middleton & Co. Inc. MA's holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $34,314,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Solstein Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the second quarter valued at approximately $26,000. N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC bought a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter worth $27,000. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter worth $28,000. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 125.0% in the 2nd quarter. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 81 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Private Wealth Management Group LLC grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 148.1% in the 1st quarter. Private Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 201 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on PANW. Capital One Financial boosted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $421.00 to $428.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 2nd. Barclays reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $375.00 price objective (up from $370.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, September 2nd. Arete Research raised their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $185.00 to $433.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, June 29th. Phillip Securities cut shares of Palo Alto Networks from a "moderate buy" rating to a "hold" rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $320.00 to $346.00 in a report on Monday, September 7th. Finally, Guggenheim reissued a "neutral" rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Thirty-nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $398.55.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

PANW opened at $380.55 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.87. The company has a market capitalization of $311.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 746.19, a P/E/G ratio of 10.95 and a beta of 0.93. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $369.33 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $307.79. 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 posted its earnings results on Tuesday, September 1st. The network technology company reported $1.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.98 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $3.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.35 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 2.67% and a return on equity of 8.50%. The business's revenue was up 34.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.95 EPS. 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. As a group, analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 27,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $391.60, for a total value of $10,769,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 117,750 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $46,110,900. This represents a 18.93% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Josh Paul sold 900 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $373.68, for a total transaction of $336,312.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 72,484 shares of the company's stock, valued at $27,085,821.12. The trade was a 1.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 54,210 shares of company stock valued at $20,823,029 in the last quarter. 1.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Palo Alto Networks 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.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding PANW? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report).

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.