Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW Shares Sold by Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado

Key Points

• Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado trimmed its Palo Alto Networks stake by 1.7% in the fourth quarter, though it still held 766,114 shares worth about $141.1 million at quarter-end.
• Insider selling continued, with EVP Dipak Golechha and CAO Josh D. Paul both selling shares; insiders sold 81,044 shares total over the last 90 days.
• Analysts turned more bullish after Palo Alto Networks beat quarterly EPS and revenue estimates, with multiple firms raising price targets and the consensus rating sitting at Moderate Buy.

Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado lowered its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 1.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 766,114 shares of the network technology company's stock after selling 13,460 shares during the quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado owned about 0.11% of Palo Alto Networks worth $141,118,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. QVT Financial LP acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 4th quarter valued at about $284,000. Resources Management Corp CT ADV increased its position in Palo Alto Networks by 1,373.7% during the 4th quarter. Resources Management Corp CT ADV now owns 17,537 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $3,230,000 after purchasing an additional 16,347 shares in the last quarter. Sargent Investment Group LLC acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the 4th quarter worth approximately $301,000. MLP3 LLC purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $354,000. Finally, MML Investors Services LLC raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 9.0% in the fourth quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 252,895 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $46,583,000 after buying an additional 20,896 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.42, for a total transaction of $802,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 150,250 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,103,105. This represents a 3.22% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 1,100 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $285.08, for a total value of $313,588.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 81,636 shares in the company, valued at $23,272,790.88. This trade represents a 1.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 81,044 shares of company stock worth $20,424,722. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently commented on PANW shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, June 1st. Wells Fargo & Company restated an "overweight" rating and issued a $325.00 price target (up from $285.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. BTIG Research raised their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $268.00 to $333.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Capital One Financial raised their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $168.00 to $248.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 19th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane raised their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $220.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-seven have given a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $306.59.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PANW opened at $279.62 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52-week low of $139.57 and a 52-week high of $302.95. The company has a 50 day moving average of $216.44 and a two-hundred day moving average of $189.26. The company has a market capitalization of $227.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 229.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 10.38 and a beta of 0.94.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, June 2nd. The network technology company reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $3 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.94 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 7.95% and a return on equity of 10.53%. Palo Alto Networks's revenue for the quarter was up 31.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company 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. As a group, analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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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