Venturi Wealth Management LLC Increases Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Key Points

• Venturi Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 8.5% during Q2, owning a total of 16,923 shares valued at approximately $3.46 million.
• Palo Alto Networks reported $2.54 billion in revenue for the last quarter, beating the consensus estimate, and a 12.30% net margin year-over-year.
• Wall Street analysts maintain a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" for Palo Alto Networks, with a consensus target price of approximately $214.95.

Venturi Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 8.5% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 16,923 shares of the network technology company's stock after purchasing an additional 1,327 shares during the quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC's holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $3,463,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of PANW. BankPlus Trust Department lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 22.8% in the second quarter. BankPlus Trust Department now owns 8,351 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $1,709,000 after buying an additional 1,549 shares in the last quarter. Independent Solutions Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.9% in the second quarter. Independent Solutions Wealth Management LLC now owns 11,482 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $2,350,000 after buying an additional 216 shares in the last quarter. Shell Asset Management Co. lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 17.9% in the second quarter. Shell Asset Management Co. now owns 44,382 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $9,082,000 after buying an additional 6,750 shares in the last quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 39.7% in the second quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 7,196 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $1,472,000 after buying an additional 2,046 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CFM Wealth Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 0.5% in the second quarter. CFM Wealth Partners LLC now owns 69,414 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $14,205,000 after buying an additional 324 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company's stock.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 0.7%

Shares of PANW stock opened at $211.04 on Wednesday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12-month low of $144.15 and a 12-month high of $214.02. The stock has a market capitalization of $141.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 131.49, a P/E/G ratio of 5.06 and a beta of 0.98. The firm's 50 day moving average is $190.70 and its 200 day moving average is $188.60.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 18th. The network technology company reported $0.95 earnings per share 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 the consensus estimate of $2.50 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.75 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 15.8% on a year-over-year basis. Palo Alto Networks has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.750-3.850 EPS. Q1 2026 guidance at 0.880-0.900 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $232.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday, August 19th. Guggenheim upped their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a "sell" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 19th. Rosenblatt Securities dropped their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $235.00 to $215.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 14th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "hold (c+)" rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Saturday, September 27th. Finally, UBS Group set a $245.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Friday, September 26th. Twenty-eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $214.95.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $202.16, for a total value of $141,512.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 32,474 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,564,943.84. This represents a 2.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 directly owned 149,190 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $31,616,344.80. This trade represents a 44.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 1,315,130 shares of company stock valued at $260,687,367. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About Palo Alto Networks

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.