Simplify Asset Management Inc. Purchases New Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Key Points

• Simplify Asset Management disclosed a new position in Palo Alto Networks, buying 3,967 shares valued at about $636,000 in the first quarter.
• Institutional ownership remains heavy, with hedge funds and other institutional investors holding about 79.82% of PANW shares; several large firms, including Vanguard and State Street, also increased their stakes.
• Palo Alto Networks reported better-than-expected quarterly results, posting EPS of $0.85 on revenue of $3 billion, while analysts have mostly kept bullish ratings and lifted price targets, with a consensus target of $316.15.

Simplify Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 3,967 shares of the network technology company's stock, valued at approximately $636,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in PANW. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 4.1% in 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 purchasing an additional 2,659,100 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake 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 purchasing an additional 594,789 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 11.9% during the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 19,375,486 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $3,568,964,000 after buying an additional 2,065,776 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 3.5% during the fourth 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 buying an additional 540,756 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the fourth quarter worth about $1,415,364,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, Director James J. Goetz sold 20,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $279.90, for a total value of $5,598,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 20,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,598,000. This represents a 50.00% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 62,904 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $258.65, for a total transaction of $16,270,119.60. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 235,983 shares in the company, valued at approximately $61,037,002.95. This represents a 21.05% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders sold 102,111 shares of company stock valued at $27,204,024. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $345.00 price objective (up from $265.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. TD Cowen reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $330.00 price target (up from $255.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Barclays reissued an "overweight" rating and set a $315.00 price objective (up from $220.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Capital One Financial upped their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $168.00 to $248.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 19th. Finally, Susquehanna reiterated a "positive" rating and set a $350.00 price target (up from $200.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have given a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $316.15.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

PANW opened at $348.06 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $258.43 and a 200-day moving average price of $201.39. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12-month low of $139.57 and a 12-month high of $358.10. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $283.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 285.30, a PEG ratio of 12.92 and a beta of 0.91.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, June 2nd. The network technology company reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.79 by $0.06. The company 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%.Palo Alto Networks's revenue for the quarter was up 31.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $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. Equities analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Palo Alto Networks Company Profile

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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