QRG Capital Management Inc. Buys 17,982 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Key Points

• QRG Capital Management increased its Palo Alto Networks stake by 20.9%, buying 17,982 shares to reach 103,822 shares valued at approximately $35.4 million. Institutional investors collectively own 79.82% of PANW.
• Palo Alto Networks reported quarterly revenue of $3.41 billion, up 34.5% year over year, and EPS of $1.02, exceeding analyst expectations. The company also highlighted strong demand for AI-security products, including Prisma AIRS, which surpassed $100 million in annual recurring revenue.
• PANW shares recently traded near their 52-week high at $393.30, but the stock carries a very elevated valuation with a P/E ratio above 770. Analysts maintain a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating with a $390.02 price target, while recent insider selling adds a modest cautionary signal.

QRG Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 20.9% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 103,822 shares of the network technology company's stock after buying an additional 17,982 shares during the period. QRG Capital Management Inc.'s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $35,405,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the second quarter valued at approximately $25,833,462,000. State Street Corp grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 4.2% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 36,979,497 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $12,610,748,000 after purchasing an additional 1,493,179 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 0.9% in the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 22,681,876 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $7,734,973,000 after purchasing an additional 205,123 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,989,257 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $2,934,935,000 after purchasing an additional 540,756 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 8.7% during the 2nd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 8,778,963 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $2,993,802,000 after purchasing an additional 706,003 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Palo Alto Networks News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Palo Alto Networks this week:

• Positive Sentiment: AI-powered security launch: Palo Alto Networks introduced Unit 42 Continuous Frontier AI Defense, an agentic offensive-security service that continuously identifies, validates and helps remediate enterprise vulnerabilities before attackers can exploit them. The platform uses gated models from Anthropic and OpenAI, including Claude Mythos and GPT-5.6, strengthening PANW’s positioning in AI-driven cybersecurity. Reuters article
• Positive Sentiment: Evidence of AI-security demand: Palo Alto Networks’ Prisma AIRS product surpassed $100 million in annual recurring revenue, with rapid customer adoption suggesting that enterprises are increasing spending to secure AI applications and expanding attack surfaces. Zacks article
• Positive Sentiment: Cybersecurity-sector momentum: PANW gained alongside CrowdStrike, Okta and Palantir while broader large-cap technology stocks weakened. The sector strength indicates investors are treating cybersecurity as a mission-critical, relatively defensive area of software spending. 247WallSt article
• Neutral Sentiment: Valuation remains demanding: PANW is near its 52-week high and trades at a very elevated earnings multiple. Strong growth in AI security may support the premium, but the valuation leaves the stock vulnerable if adoption or execution disappoints.
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling: Director James Goetz sold 20,000 shares for approximately $7.5 million. The transaction is a modest cautionary signal, although a single director sale does not necessarily indicate a change in the company’s fundamentals. InsiderTrades article

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PANW has been the topic of several recent research reports. HSBC dropped their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $201.00 to $190.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 3rd. Oppenheimer restated an "outperform" rating and set a $450.00 price target (up from $400.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, September 2nd. Wolfe Research reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $320.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Phillip Securities lowered shares of Palo Alto Networks from a "moderate buy" rating to a "hold" rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $320.00 to $346.00 in a report on Monday, September 7th. Finally, William Blair reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Tuesday, June 16th. Thirty-eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $390.02.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, Director Aparna Bawa sold 1,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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. The trade was a 15.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Helle Thorning-Schmidt sold 700 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $346.85, for a total value of $242,795.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 5,898 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,045,721.30. This represents a 10.61% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 28,322 shares of company stock valued at $10,546,409 in the last 90 days. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of PANW stock traded up $18.73 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $393.30. The company's stock had a trading volume of 6,265,162 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,469,270. The company has a 50 day moving average of $354.19 and a 200 day moving average of $272.87. The stock has a market cap of $321.72 billion, a PE ratio of 771.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 10.70 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12-month low of $139.57 and a 12-month high of $398.88.

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

About Palo Alto Networks

Palo Alto Networks, Inc is a cybersecurity company that provides security products and services to businesses, governments and other organizations worldwide. The company helps customers protect networks, cloud environments, endpoints, applications and connected devices from cyber threats.

Its portfolio includes next-generation firewalls and network security technologies, as well as cloud-delivered security solutions such as Prisma Access and Prisma Cloud. Palo Alto Networks also offers Cortex products for endpoint protection, security operations, threat detection and response, and automation.

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