Vident Advisory LLC Has $80.86 Million Stock Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Key Points

• Vident Advisory LLC increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 149.0% to approximately $80.86 million, making it the company's 14th largest position as of its latest SEC filing.
• Palo Alto Networks reported $2.54 billion in revenue for its most recent quarter, exceeding analysts' expectations, with an earnings per share (EPS) of $0.95, up from $0.75 a year prior.
• The average target price for Palo Alto Networks among analysts is $211.52, with the majority rating the stock as a "Moderate Buy".

Vident Advisory LLC lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 149.0% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 473,880 shares of the network technology company's stock after buying an additional 283,545 shares during the quarter. Palo Alto Networks comprises approximately 1.2% of Vident Advisory LLC's holdings, making the stock its 14th biggest position. Vident Advisory LLC owned approximately 0.07% of Palo Alto Networks worth $80,863,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Capital A Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. HWG Holdings LP acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the 1st quarter valued at about $31,000. Dagco Inc. bought a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the first quarter worth about $33,000. SWAN Capital LLC grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 100.0% during the fourth quarter. SWAN Capital LLC now owns 200 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. Finally, WPG Advisers LLC acquired a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the first quarter worth approximately $37,000. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $201.85, for a total value of $1,009,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 101,135 shares of the company's stock, valued at $20,414,099.75. This represents a 4.71% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 800 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $201.05, for a total value of $160,840.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 42,033 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,450,734.65. This represents a 1.87% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 669,422 shares of company stock valued at $126,452,337 in the last quarter. 2.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 0.3%

NASDAQ PANW traded down $0.50 during trading on Friday, reaching $190.52. The company's stock had a trading volume of 5,189,897 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,148,018. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $189.39 and a 200 day moving average price of $186.10. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12 month low of $144.15 and a 12 month high of $210.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $127.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 118.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.55 and a beta of 0.94.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Monday, August 18th. The network technology company reported $0.95 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.89 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $2.54 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.50 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 17.66% and a net margin of 12.30%.The company's revenue was up 15.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.75 EPS. 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 analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PANW has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $232.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Tuesday, August 19th. Piper Sandler raised Palo Alto Networks from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and raised their price target for the company from $200.00 to $225.00 in a report on Tuesday, August 12th. Roth Capital began coverage on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $210.00 price objective for the company. Bank of America upgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $215.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Tuesday, August 19th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald restated an "overweight" rating and set a $223.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Friday, August 15th. Twenty-eight equities research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $211.52.

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.