YHB Investment Advisors Inc. Purchases 1,826 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Key Points

• YHB Investment Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 4.4% during Q2, purchasing an additional 1,826 shares, bringing their total to 43,361 shares worth approximately $8.87 million.
• Institutional investors hold 79.82% of Palo Alto Networks, with notable increases in positions from firms such as Nuveen LLC and GAMMA Investing LLC in the first quarter.
• Analysts have set a consensus price target of $212.39 for Palo Alto Networks, with recent upgrades from various financial services further indicating confidence in the company's performance as it moves forward.

YHB Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 4.4% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 43,361 shares of the network technology company's stock after purchasing an additional 1,826 shares during the quarter. YHB Investment Advisors Inc.'s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $8,872,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the 1st quarter valued at $810,047,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 18,802.8% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,410,290 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $411,292,000 after acquiring an additional 2,397,539 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its position 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 valued at $1,234,650,000 after acquiring an additional 2,134,735 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position 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 valued at $662,000,000 after acquiring an additional 1,688,432 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position 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 valued at $10,712,019,000 after acquiring an additional 1,541,637 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $191.11, for a total value of $23,081,119.14. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 177,954 shares in the company, valued at approximately $34,008,788.94. This represents a 40.43% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $201.85, for a total transaction of $1,009,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 101,135 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,414,099.75. This trade represents a 4.71% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 568,622 shares of company stock valued at $106,468,778 over the last quarter. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PANW has been the topic of several research reports. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $228.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 19th. New Street Research boosted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $235.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, September 12th. Truist Financial set a $220.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 19th. Stephens reissued an "equal weight" rating and set a $205.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Tuesday, August 19th. Finally, Barclays reissued an "overweight" rating and set a $215.00 price target (up from $210.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Tuesday, August 19th. Twenty-nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $212.39.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $205.68 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $137.58 billion, a PE ratio of 128.15, a P/E/G ratio of 4.85 and a beta of 0.98. The company's 50-day moving average is $188.19 and its 200-day moving average is $186.35. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $144.15 and a fifty-two week high of $210.39.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last released 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 analyst estimates 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 previous year, the business 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. As a group, analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.