Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW Stake Trimmed by Park National Corp OH

Key Points

• Park National Corp OH reduced its Palo Alto Networks stake by 15% in the third quarter, selling 28,006 shares and retaining 158,591 shares valued at approximately $63 million. Institutional investors collectively own 79.82% of PANW.
• Palo Alto Networks insiders sold 54,260 shares worth about $20.8 million over the past 90 days, including significant sales by EVP Dipak Golechha and Director Aparna Bawa.
• Analyst sentiment remains positive, with a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and an average price target of $391.32. The company recently exceeded quarterly earnings and revenue estimates, reporting 34.5% year-over-year revenue growth.

Park National Corp OH cut its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 15.0% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 158,591 shares of the network technology company's stock after selling 28,006 shares during the quarter. Palo Alto Networks accounts for 1.7% of Park National Corp OH's portfolio, making the stock its 13th largest position. Park National Corp OH's holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $63,010,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $25,833,462,000. Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the second quarter valued at $1,968,304,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the second quarter valued at $1,569,755,000. Deutsche Bank AG acquired a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the second quarter valued at $1,481,236,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE lifted 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 purchasing an additional 3,101,267 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 27,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $391.60, for a total transaction of $10,769,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 117,750 shares of the company's stock, valued at $46,110,900. The trade was a 18.93% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Aparna Bawa sold 1,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $373.61, for a total transaction of $373,610.00. Following the sale, the director owned 5,437 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,031,317.57. This trade represents a 15.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 54,260 shares of company stock valued at $20,804,474. 1.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus set a $415.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 19th. Susquehanna upped their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $350.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock a "positive" rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 2nd. Capital One Financial lifted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $421.00 to $428.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Roth Capital restated a "neutral" rating and issued a $300.00 target price (up from $210.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, September 2nd. Finally, Truist Financial set a $400.00 target price on Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Thirty-eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $391.32.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 0.7%

Shares of NASDAQ:PANW traded up $2.81 on Monday, reaching $406.05. The company had a trading volume of 1,395,515 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,310,859. The stock has a market capitalization of $332.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 796.39, a P/E/G ratio of 11.61 and a beta of 0.93. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $362.05 and a 200 day moving average price of $285.61. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a twelve month low of $139.57 and a twelve month high of $409.50. The company has a quick ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, September 1st. The network technology company reported $1.02 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 analyst estimates of $3.35 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.95 EPS. The firm'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. On average, equities analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.31 EPS for the current 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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