V Square Quantitative Management LLC Trims Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

V Square Quantitative Management LLC cut its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 10.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 14,746 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 1,680 shares during the quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $3,018,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in PANW. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the first quarter valued at approximately $810,047,000. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the second quarter valued at approximately $633,068,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 41.9% during the first 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 purchasing an additional 2,134,735 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 77.1% during the first 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 purchasing an additional 1,688,432 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 2.5% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 62,775,544 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $10,712,019,000 after acquiring an additional 1,541,637 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 0.1%

Shares of PANW opened at $202.37 on Monday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $189.58 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $187.47. The stock has a market cap of $135.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 126.09, a PEG ratio of 4.82 and a beta of 0.98. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52 week low of $144.15 and a 52 week high of $210.39.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its 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. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 17.66% and a net margin of 12.30%.The firm had revenue of $2.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.50 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.75 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 15.8% on a year-over-year basis. 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, equities analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, 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 value of $128,940.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 37,723 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,948,576.60. This trade represents a 1.82% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $198.66, for a total value of $19,866,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 3,243,516 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $644,356,888.56. The trade was a 2.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 1,415,030 shares of company stock valued at $279,198,494 in the last 90 days. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have commented on the company. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $217.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 19th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $210.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 2nd. DA Davidson reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $215.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday, August 19th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $235.00 target price on Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday, July 29th. Finally, Tigress Financial assumed coverage on Palo Alto Networks in a report on Friday. They issued a “buy” rating and a $245.00 target price on the stock. Thirty research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $214.64.

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.