Versor Investments LP Purchases New Holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Key Points

• Versor Investments LP acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. by purchasing 6,392 shares valued at approximately $1,091,000 in the 1st quarter.
• Several institutional investors have increased their holdings in Palo Alto Networks, with Vanguard Group owning over 62 million shares worth approximately $10.7 billion.
• Palo Alto Networks reported a quarterly earnings per share (EPS) of $0.80, exceeding the consensus estimate by $0.03 and reflecting a 15.3% increase in revenue compared to the previous year.

Versor Investments LP bought a new position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 6,392 shares of the network technology company's stock, valued at approximately $1,091,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of PANW. Csenge Advisory Group grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2.4% during the 1st quarter. Csenge Advisory Group now owns 2,271 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $381,000 after buying an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. SYM FINANCIAL Corp grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 1.4% in the 1st quarter. SYM FINANCIAL Corp now owns 4,047 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $691,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Crew Capital Management Ltd. grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 2.5% in the 1st quarter. Crew Capital Management Ltd. now owns 2,310 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $394,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. JDM Financial Group LLC grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 22.4% in the 4th quarter. JDM Financial Group LLC now owns 322 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $59,000 after purchasing an additional 59 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sage Mountain Advisors LLC grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 1.5% in the 1st quarter. Sage Mountain Advisors LLC now owns 3,931 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $671,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company's stock.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of Palo Alto Networks stock traded up $3.0280 on Wednesday, hitting $184.5880. The company had a trading volume of 11,938,666 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,449,623. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $191.31 and a 200-day simple moving average of $186.32. The company has a market cap of $123.08 billion, a PE ratio of 115.01, a PEG ratio of 4.33 and a beta of 0.94. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52 week low of $144.15 and a 52 week high of $210.39.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 18th. The network technology company reported $0.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 18.55%. The business had revenue of $2.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.50 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.75 earnings per share. The business's 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. On average, equities research analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have commented on PANW shares. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an "overweight" rating and issued a $223.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Friday, August 15th. Barclays restated an "overweight" rating and issued a $215.00 target price (up previously from $210.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Tuesday. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $207.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday. Westpark Capital restated a "hold" rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Needham & Company LLC restated a "buy" rating and issued a $230.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Tuesday. Twenty-eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $211.52.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.58, for a total transaction of $20,722,402.92. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 206,718 shares of the company's stock, valued at $35,468,674.44. This represents a 36.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Aparna Bawa sold 526 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.00, for a total transaction of $99,940.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 8,632 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,640,080. This represents a 5.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 669,248 shares of company stock valued at $126,423,337. Corporate insiders own 2.50% of the company's stock.

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.