Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW Shares Acquired by Groupe la Francaise

Groupe la Francaise lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 2.3% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 200,266 shares of the network technology company’s stock after buying an additional 4,445 shares during the period. Groupe la Francaise’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $35,439,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Trinity Legacy Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 0.3% during the first quarter. Trinity Legacy Partners LLC now owns 26,745 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $4,564,000 after buying an additional 73 shares during the period. APG Asset Management US Inc. raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 13.7% during the first quarter. APG Asset Management US Inc. now owns 23,464 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $4,020,000 after purchasing an additional 2,832 shares in the last quarter. Strategies Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 20.6% during the first quarter. Strategies Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,274 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $729,000 after purchasing an additional 730 shares in the last quarter. Allstate Corp raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 6.1% during the first quarter. Allstate Corp now owns 20,360 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $3,474,000 after purchasing an additional 1,164 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mccarter Private Wealth Services LLC raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 4.3% during the first quarter. Mccarter Private Wealth Services LLC now owns 16,243 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $2,772,000 after purchasing an additional 667 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.80, for a total transaction of $17,280,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 3,143,516 shares in the company, valued at approximately $543,199,564.80. This trade represents a 3.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.20, for a total transaction of $128,940.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 37,723 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,948,576.60. This trade represents a 1.82% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 669,948 shares of company stock worth $126,552,277 in the last three months. 2.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $207.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and set a $212.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday. DA Davidson reissued a “buy” rating and set a $215.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $217.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Truist Financial set a $220.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Twenty-eight equities 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $211.52.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

PANW stock opened at $185.88 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $190.61 and its 200-day simple moving average is $186.33. The firm has a market capitalization of $123.94 billion, a PE ratio of 115.81, a P/E/G ratio of 4.47 and a beta of 0.94. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12 month low of $144.15 and a 12 month high of $210.39.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 18th. The network technology company reported $0.95 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.06. The business 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%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 15.8% on a year-over-year basis. 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 anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share 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.