PeakShares LLC Acquires New Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Key Points

• PeakShares LLC disclosed a new fourth-quarter position in Palo Alto Networks, buying 5,100 shares valued at about $939,000.
• Institutional ownership remains heavy, with major investors like Vanguard, State Street, Bank of America, and Norges Bank increasing or initiating positions; hedge funds and other institutions own 79.82% of the stock.
• Palo Alto Networks also saw mixed insider activity and strong analyst support: CEO Nikesh Arora bought shares, while a director sold shares, and analysts maintain a Moderate Buy consensus with a $306.59 price target.

PeakShares LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 5,100 shares of the network technology company's stock, valued at approximately $939,000.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 4.1% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 67,929,063 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $12,512,533,000 after buying an additional 2,659,100 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 30,331,705 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $5,587,100,000 after acquiring an additional 594,789 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 11.9% in the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 19,375,486 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $3,568,964,000 after acquiring an additional 2,065,776 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,989,257 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $2,934,935,000 after acquiring an additional 540,756 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,415,364,000. 79.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Nikesh Arora purchased 68,085 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, March 27th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $146.87 per share, for a total transaction of $9,999,643.95. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer directly owned 343,394 shares in the company, valued at $50,434,276.78. This trade represents a 24.73% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director John P. Key sold 7,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $279.24, for a total transaction of $2,094,300.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 12,500 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,490,500. The trade was a 37.50% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 101,044 shares of company stock valued at $26,022,722 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 1.40% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on PANW. Cantor Fitzgerald set a $340.00 target price on Palo Alto Networks and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. DA Davidson upped their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $190.00 to $345.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. BNP Paribas Exane increased their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $220.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $275.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Finally, Arete Research raised Palo Alto Networks from a "sell" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $185.00 target price for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-eight have issued a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $306.59.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of PANW opened at $287.78 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $234.54 billion, a PE ratio of 235.89, a P/E/G ratio of 10.69 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $228.24 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $192.65. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1-year low of $139.57 and a 1-year high of $302.95.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, June 2nd. The network technology company reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $3 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.94 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 10.53% and a net margin of 7.95%.The company's revenue was up 31.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.37 EPS. 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. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.03 EPS for the current 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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