Polaris Financial Partners Buys New Holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Key Points

• Polaris Financial Partners initiated a Palo Alto Networks position worth approximately $3.48 million, making PANW its 15th-largest holding at 1.6% of the portfolio. Institutional investors collectively own 79.82% of the company.
• Palo Alto Networks reported quarterly EPS of $1.02, exceeding estimates by $0.04, while revenue reached $3.41 billion, up 34.5% year over year. The company also issued fiscal 2027 EPS guidance of $4.16–$4.19.
• PANW shares rose 1.8% to $403.24, and analysts maintain a “Moderate Buy” consensus with an average price target of $391.32. However, insiders sold more than $20.8 million of stock over the past 90 days.

Polaris Financial Partners bought a new position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 8,627 shares of the network technology company's stock, valued at approximately $3,476,000. Palo Alto Networks accounts for about 1.6% of Polaris Financial Partners' holdings, making the stock its 15th biggest position.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Boltwood Capital Management grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter. Boltwood Capital Management now owns 4,123 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $1,638,000 after acquiring an additional 120 shares during the last quarter. CX Institutional raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 414.3% during the third quarter. CX Institutional now owns 34,543 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $13,724,000 after acquiring an additional 27,826 shares during the last quarter. Private Client Services LLC bought a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the third quarter valued at about $210,000. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 32.9% during the third quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 2,502 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $994,000 after purchasing an additional 619 shares during the period. Finally, Stonebridge Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the third quarter worth about $218,000. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 1.8%

Palo Alto Networks stock traded up $6.99 on Friday, hitting $403.24. 4,840,545 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 8,347,358. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1 year low of $139.57 and a 1 year high of $409.50. The firm has a market cap of $329.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 790.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 11.44 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $360.46 and its 200 day simple moving average is $283.95.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, September 1st. The network technology company reported $1.02 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.98 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $3.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.35 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 2.67% and a return on equity of 8.50%. Palo Alto Networks's quarterly revenue was up 34.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.95 earnings per share. 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, sell-side analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.31 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have commented on the company. TD Cowen reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $440.00 price target (up from $400.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Friday. Wedbush started coverage on Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Friday, September 11th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $400.00 price objective on the stock. Weiss Ratings restated a "hold (c-)" rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday, September 1st. Arete Research raised their price target on 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, FBN Securities reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. Thirty-eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $391.32.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, Director John Key sold 2,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, September 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $376.03, for a total transaction of $940,075.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 10,000 shares in the company, valued at $3,760,300. This trade represents a 20.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Aparna Bawa sold 1,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $373.61, for a total value of $373,610.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 5,437 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,031,317.57. This represents a 15.54% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 54,260 shares of company stock valued at $20,804,474 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company's stock.

About Palo Alto Networks

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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