Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Sells 300 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System cut its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 0.4% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 83,700 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 300 shares during the period. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $17,128,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. HWG Holdings LP bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the 1st quarter worth about $31,000. Dagco Inc. bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the 1st quarter worth about $33,000. WPG Advisers LLC bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the 1st quarter worth about $37,000. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 58.9% in the 1st quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL now owns 224 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 83 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Stonebridge Financial Group LLC grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 46.8% in the 1st quarter. Stonebridge Financial Group LLC now owns 232 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 74 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $202.16, for a total transaction of $141,512.00. Following the sale, 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 846,408 shares of the company’s 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 sale, 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. Insiders sold a total of 1,315,130 shares of company stock worth $260,687,367 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 0.7%

Shares of PANW stock opened at $211.04 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $141.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 131.49, a PEG ratio of 5.06 and a beta of 0.98. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $190.70 and its 200 day moving average is $188.60. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12 month low of $144.15 and a 12 month high of $214.02.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 18th. The network technology company reported $0.95 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 was up 15.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company 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, equities analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on PANW shares. Rosenblatt Securities reduced their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $235.00 to $215.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 14th. Tigress Financial initiated coverage on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Friday, September 26th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $245.00 price objective for the company. Stephens reiterated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $205.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday, August 19th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $225.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Monday, September 15th. Finally, DA Davidson reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $215.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday, August 19th. Twenty-eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $214.95.

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.