West Tower Group LLC Acquires Shares of 1,500 Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Key Points

• West Tower Group LLC acquired 1,500 shares of Palo Alto Networks, valued at approximately $307,000, marking a significant new investment during the second quarter.
• Insider selling has been notable, with EVP Lee Klarich and CEO Nikesh Arora reducing their holdings by 44.74% and 75.48%, respectively, in recent months.
• Palo Alto Networks reported earnings of $0.95 per share for the last quarter, exceeding estimates and reflecting a 15.8% year-over-year revenue increase.

West Tower Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 1,500 shares of the network technology company's stock, valued at approximately $307,000.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in PANW. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 147.7% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,761 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $1,230,000 after purchasing an additional 4,031 shares during the last quarter. Bison Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 169.1% during the fourth quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 5,212 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $948,000 after purchasing an additional 3,275 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 10.8% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 14,125 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $2,410,000 after purchasing an additional 1,374 shares during the last quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 205.6% during the first quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,145 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $366,000 after purchasing an additional 1,443 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Shum Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 6.6% in the first quarter. Shum Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,777 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $645,000 after buying an additional 233 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $211.92, for a total transaction of $25,594,426.08. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 149,190 shares in the company, valued at $31,616,344.80. This trade represents a 44.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 846,408 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $204.06, for a total transaction of $172,718,016.48. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 275,013 shares in the company, valued at $56,119,152.78. The trade was a 75.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, 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.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 1.2%

PANW stock opened at $207.89 on Monday. The company's 50 day moving average is $196.80 and its 200 day moving average is $190.59. The stock has a market cap of $139.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 129.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.94 and a beta of 0.98. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1-year low of $144.15 and a 1-year high of $217.94.

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 for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $2.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.50 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 12.30% and a return on equity of 17.66%. Palo Alto Networks's revenue for the quarter was up 15.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.75 earnings per share. 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, sell-side analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on PANW. DA Davidson reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $215.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday, August 19th. BTIG Research raised shares of Palo Alto Networks from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, October 13th. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $232.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday, August 19th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $210.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, September 2nd. Finally, JMP Securities reissued a "market outperform" rating and issued a $212.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday, August 19th. Thirty 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 data from MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $216.60.

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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