Stephens Investment Management Group LLC Decreases Stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Key Points

• Stephens Investment Management Group LLC reduced its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 18.0%, owning 55,189 shares valued at approximately $11.3 million after selling 12,112 shares in the second quarter.
• Insiders at Palo Alto Networks have sold over 1.3 million shares worth approximately $260.7 million in the past ninety days, indicating significant selling activity among company executives.
• Analysts maintain a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" for Palo Alto Networks, with an average price target of $217.22, as the company reported a revenue growth of 15.8% year-over-year in its last quarterly earnings.

Stephens Investment Management Group LLC lowered its position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 18.0% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 55,189 shares of the network technology company's stock after selling 12,112 shares during the quarter. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC's holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $11,294,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. St. Clair Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 0.3% during the second quarter. St. Clair Advisors LLC now owns 15,800 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $3,233,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC. raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 2.1% during the second quarter. Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC. now owns 2,467 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $496,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Csenge Advisory Group raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 2.4% during the first quarter. Csenge Advisory Group now owns 2,271 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $381,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. TFG Advisers LLC raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 1.1% during the second quarter. TFG Advisers LLC now owns 4,668 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $955,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GSG Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 0.4% during the first quarter. GSG Advisors LLC now owns 12,450 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $2,154,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $202.16, for a total value of $141,512.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 32,474 shares in the company, valued at $6,564,943.84. The trade was a 2.11% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $211.92, for a total transaction of $25,594,426.08. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 149,190 shares in the company, valued at $31,616,344.80. This represents a 44.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 1,315,130 shares of company stock worth $260,687,367. 2.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have weighed in on PANW. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $232.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday, August 19th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $215.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $217.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 19th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $223.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Friday, August 15th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group set a $235.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday, July 29th. Thirty analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $217.22.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PANW opened at $212.42 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $142.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 132.35, a PEG ratio of 5.10 and a beta of 0.98. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a one year low of $144.15 and a one year high of $217.94. The company's fifty day moving average is $199.16 and its two-hundred day moving average is $191.31.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 18th. The network technology company reported $0.95 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.06. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 12.30% and a return on equity of 17.66%. The business had revenue of $2.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.50 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.75 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 15.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Palo Alto Networks has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.750-3.850 EPS. Q1 2026 guidance at 0.880-0.900 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Palo Alto Networks Company Profile

Palo Alto Networks, Inc provides cybersecurity solutions worldwide. The company offers firewall appliances and software; and Panorama, a security management solution for the global control of network security platform as a virtual or a physical appliance. It also provides subscription services covering the areas of threat prevention, malware and persistent threat, URL filtering, laptop and mobile device protection, DNS security, Internet of Things security, SaaS security API, and SaaS security inline, as well as threat intelligence, and data loss prevention.

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