Wallington Asset Management LLC Raises Holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Key Points

• Wallington Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. by 2.6% in Q2, now owning 84,534 shares valued at approximately $17.3 million.
• Several major institutional investors have recently purchased stakes in Palo Alto Networks, with notable investments from Nuveen LLC and Goldman Sachs, who now owns over $1.23 billion worth of shares.
• Palo Alto Networks reported a 15.8% increase in quarterly revenue year-over-year, with an earnings per share of $0.95, exceeding analysts' expectations.

Wallington Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 2.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 84,534 shares of the network technology company's stock after acquiring an additional 2,116 shares during the quarter. Palo Alto Networks accounts for about 2.4% of Wallington Asset Management LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest holding. Wallington Asset Management LLC's holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $17,299,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of PANW. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the 1st quarter worth approximately $810,047,000. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $633,068,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 41.9% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 7,235,406 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $1,234,650,000 after buying an additional 2,134,735 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 77.1% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 3,879,506 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $662,000,000 after buying an additional 1,688,432 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 2.5% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 62,775,544 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $10,712,019,000 after buying an additional 1,541,637 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PANW has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $210.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, September 2nd. Truist Financial set a $220.00 target price on Palo Alto Networks and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 19th. Needham & Company LLC restated a "buy" rating and issued a $230.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, September 3rd. Rosenblatt Securities lowered their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $235.00 to $215.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 14th. Finally, Westpark Capital restated a "hold" rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday, August 19th. Thirty research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $214.64.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Palo Alto Networks news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 846,408 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $204.06, for a total value of $172,718,016.48. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 275,013 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $56,119,152.78. This trade represents a 75.48% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 100,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Friday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.80, for a total value of $17,280,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 3,143,516 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $543,199,564.80. The trade was a 3.08% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 1,315,130 shares of company stock worth $259,351,606. 2.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 1.0%

PANW stock opened at $207.19 on Friday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a twelve month low of $144.15 and a twelve month high of $212.10. The firm has a market cap of $138.59 billion, a PE ratio of 129.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.98 and a beta of 0.98. The business has a 50 day moving average of $190.20 and a 200 day moving average of $188.20.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Monday, August 18th. The network technology company reported $0.95 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.89 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $2.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 quarterly revenue was up 15.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $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, research analysts expect 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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