Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW Stock Sold by Davidson Capital Management Inc.

Key Points

• Davidson Capital Management cut its Palo Alto Networks stake by 27.3% in the third quarter, selling 8,027 shares and retaining 21,408 shares valued at approximately $8.5 million.
• Palo Alto Networks reported quarterly results above expectations, with EPS of $1.02 versus the $0.98 consensus and revenue of $3.41 billion, up 34.5% year over year.
• The stock traded at $370.27, while analysts maintained a generally positive outlook: 39 analysts rated it Buy and 11 Hold, producing a “Moderate Buy” consensus and an average price target of $393.02.

Davidson Capital Management Inc. lessened its holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 27.3% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 21,408 shares of the network technology company's stock after selling 8,027 shares during the quarter. Palo Alto Networks accounts for 1.4% of Davidson Capital Management Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest position. Davidson Capital Management Inc.'s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $8,506,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Solstein Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter worth about $26,000. N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the second quarter worth about $27,000. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the second quarter worth about $28,000. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 125.0% during the second quarter. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 81 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. Finally, EMC Capital Management bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter worth about $34,000. 79.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 1.3%

Shares of PANW opened at $370.27 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $373.10 and a 200 day moving average of $300.73. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $139.57 and a fifty-two week high of $432.33. The firm has a market cap of $302.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 726.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 10.79 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a current ratio of 0.87.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, September 1st. The network technology company reported $1.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.98 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $3.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.35 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 8.50% and a net margin of 2.67%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 34.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous 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, research analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.31 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, Director Aparna Bawa sold 1,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $373.61, for a total value of $373,610.00. Following the sale, the director owned 5,437 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,031,317.57. The trade was a 15.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Josh Paul sold 900 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $373.68, for a total transaction of $336,312.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 72,484 shares in the company, valued at $27,085,821.12. The trade was a 1.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 54,210 shares of company stock valued at $20,823,029. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PANW has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Evercore reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Monday, August 31st. Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and increased their target price for the company from $253.00 to $351.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 17th. Guggenheim restated a "neutral" rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, September 2nd. Arete Research raised their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $185.00 to $433.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, June 29th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised shares of Palo Alto Networks from a "hold (c-)" rating to a "hold (c)" rating in a report on Thursday, October 8th. Thirty-nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $393.02.

Palo Alto Networks 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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