Wormser Freres Gestion Acquires 29,817 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Key Points

• Wormser Freres Gestion significantly increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 153.2%, acquiring an additional 29,817 shares, bringing its total holdings to 49,275 shares valued at approximately $10.08 million.
• Hedge funds and institutional investors now own 79.82% of Palo Alto Networks' stock, reflecting a strong interest in the network technology company.
• Palo Alto Networks reported an earnings per share of $0.95 for the last quarter, exceeding estimates, with quarterly revenue reaching $2.54 billion, up 15.8% year-over-year.

Wormser Freres Gestion boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 153.2% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 49,275 shares of the network technology company's stock after acquiring an additional 29,817 shares during the period. Palo Alto Networks comprises 6.0% of Wormser Freres Gestion's portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest holding. Wormser Freres Gestion's holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $10,081,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Brighton Jones LLC increased its position 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 worth $1,230,000 after buying an additional 4,031 shares in the last quarter. Bison Wealth LLC lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 169.1% in the fourth quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 5,212 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $948,000 after acquiring an additional 3,275 shares in the last quarter. Impact Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 25.4% during the first quarter. Impact Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,441 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $246,000 after acquiring an additional 292 shares during the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 54.2% during the first quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,095 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $357,000 after acquiring an additional 736 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Orrstown Financial Services Inc. increased its position in Palo Alto Networks by 39.9% during the 1st quarter. Orrstown Financial Services Inc. now owns 2,786 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $475,000 after purchasing an additional 794 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have issued reports on PANW shares. Rosenblatt Securities reduced 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 report on Thursday, August 14th. Westpark Capital reaffirmed a "hold" rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday, August 19th. Tigress Financial began coverage on Palo Alto Networks in a report on Friday, September 26th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $245.00 price target for the company. Stephens reissued an "equal weight" rating and set a $205.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday, August 19th. Finally, Guggenheim raised their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a "sell" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 19th. Thirty research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $214.64.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 1.0%

NASDAQ PANW opened at $207.19 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $138.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 129.09, a PEG ratio of 4.93 and a beta of 0.98. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $190.20 and its 200-day simple moving average is $188.24. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52 week low of $144.15 and a 52 week high of $212.10.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $2.54 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.50 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 12.30% and a return on equity of 17.66%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 15.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm 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, research analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.16, for a total transaction of $141,512.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 32,474 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,564,943.84. This represents a 2.11% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $191.11, for a total transaction of $23,081,119.14. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 177,954 shares of the company's stock, valued at $34,008,788.94. The trade was a 40.43% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 1,194,356 shares of company stock worth $235,092,941 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 2.50% of the company's stock.

Palo Alto Networks 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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