Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW Stock Holdings Trimmed by Citizens & Northern Corp

Key Points

• Citizens & Northern Corp reduced its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 33.9%, owning 7,752 shares worth approximately $1.586 million after selling 3,981 shares in the second quarter.
• Brokerages have increased their price targets for Palo Alto Networks, with Scotiabank and others projecting prices ranging from $215.00 to $245.00 and confirming strong "outperform" ratings for the stock.
• Palo Alto Networks reported a 15.8% year-over-year revenue growth to $2.54 billion and earnings per share (EPS) of $0.95 for the last quarter, exceeding estimates.

Citizens & Northern Corp decreased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 33.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 7,752 shares of the network technology company's stock after selling 3,981 shares during the quarter. Citizens & Northern Corp's holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $1,586,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of PANW. St. Clair Advisors LLC increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. St. Clair Advisors LLC now owns 15,800 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $3,233,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the period. Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC. lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 2.1% in the second quarter. Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC. now owns 2,467 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $496,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the period. Csenge Advisory Group boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 2.4% during the 1st quarter. Csenge Advisory Group now owns 2,271 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $381,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. TFG Advisers LLC increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. TFG Advisers LLC now owns 4,668 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $955,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares during the period. Finally, GSG Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. GSG Advisors LLC now owns 12,450 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $2,154,000 after buying an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on PANW. Scotiabank upped their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $228.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 19th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $232.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday, August 19th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $210.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 2nd. DA Davidson reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $215.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Tuesday, August 19th. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $245.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, October 17th. Thirty investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $217.22.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

PANW stock opened at $214.40 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $198.45 and a 200 day simple moving average of $191.16. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52 week low of $144.15 and a 52 week high of $217.94. The stock has a market cap of $143.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 133.58, a P/E/G ratio of 5.04 and a beta of 0.98.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Monday, August 18th. The network technology company reported $0.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.89 by $0.06. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 12.30% and a return on equity of 17.66%. The company had revenue of $2.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.50 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.75 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 15.8% on a year-over-year basis. Palo Alto Networks has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.750-3.850 EPS. Q1 2026 guidance at 0.880-0.900 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $204.19, for a total value of $1,020,950.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 96,135 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,629,805.65. This represents a 4.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 100,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.80, for a total transaction of $17,280,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 3,143,516 shares of the company's stock, valued at $543,199,564.80. This trade represents a 3.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 1,315,130 shares of company stock valued at $260,687,367. Corporate insiders own 2.50% of the company's stock.

Palo Alto Networks Company Profile

Palo Alto Networks, Inc provides cybersecurity solutions worldwide. The company offers firewall appliances and software; and Panorama, a security management solution for the global control of network security platform as a virtual or a physical appliance. It also provides subscription services covering the areas of threat prevention, malware and persistent threat, URL filtering, laptop and mobile device protection, DNS security, Internet of Things security, SaaS security API, and SaaS security inline, as well as threat intelligence, and data loss prevention.

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