Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC Cuts Stock Holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Key Points

• Sequoia Financial Advisors cut its Palo Alto Networks stake by 42.6% in the second quarter, selling 80,361 shares and retaining 108,160 shares valued at approximately $36.9 million. Institutional investors collectively own 79.82% of the company.
• Palo Alto Networks exceeded quarterly expectations, reporting $1.02 in EPS on $3.41 billion in revenue, with revenue up 34.5% year over year. Analysts maintain a “Moderate Buy” consensus rating and an average price target of $386.32.
• The stock opened at $335.10, with a market capitalization of $273.1 billion and a notably high P/E ratio of 657.07. Company insiders sold 37,703 shares worth $10.9 million over the past 90 days.

Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 42.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 108,160 shares of the network technology company's stock after selling 80,361 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC's holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $36,885,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Darwin Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter valued at about $25,000. Knuff & Co LLC bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Solstein Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter valued at $26,000. Sittner & Nelson LLC boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 73.8% in the 4th quarter. Sittner & Nelson LLC now owns 146 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 62 shares during the last quarter. Finally, N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter worth $27,000. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PANW opened at $335.10 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $273.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 657.07, a PEG ratio of 9.73 and a beta of 0.91. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52 week low of $139.57 and a 52 week high of $398.88. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $349.79 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $259.23.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last issued 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 the consensus estimate of $3.35 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 8.50% and a net margin of 2.67%.The company's quarterly revenue was up 34.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business 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, analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Citizens Jmp upped their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $320.00 to $415.00 and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 12th. HSBC reduced their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $201.00 to $190.00 in a research note on Thursday, September 3rd. Northland Securities set a $360.00 price objective on Palo Alto Networks and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 2nd. Scotiabank lowered shares of Palo Alto Networks from a "sector outperform" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald restated an "overweight" rating and issued a $425.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday. Thirty-nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $386.32.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 900 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $345.00, for a total transaction of $310,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 79,644 shares in the company, valued at $27,477,180. The trade was a 1.12% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director James J. Goetz sold 20,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $279.90, for a total transaction of $5,598,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 20,000 shares in the company, valued at $5,598,000. This represents a 50.00% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 37,703 shares of company stock worth $10,900,823 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company's stock.

Palo Alto Networks Profile

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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