Deroy & Devereaux Private Investment Counsel Inc. Increases Stock Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Deroy & Devereaux Private Investment Counsel Inc. grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 22.2% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,258 shares of the network technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 774 shares during the quarter. Deroy & Devereaux Private Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $871,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2.5% during 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 during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 41.9% during 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 during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 16.0% during the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 6,902,048 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,177,765,000 after acquiring an additional 950,765 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 1st quarter valued at about $810,047,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 5.2% during the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,422,037 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $754,576,000 after acquiring an additional 219,111 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $215.00 price objective (up previously from $210.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday, August 19th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $223.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Friday, August 15th. BTIG Research raised shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. Tigress Financial assumed coverage on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Friday, September 26th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $245.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Stephens reissued an “equal weight” rating and issued a $205.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday, August 19th. Twenty-nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $216.00.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 2.7%

NASDAQ PANW opened at $207.56 on Wednesday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12 month low of $144.15 and a 12 month high of $217.94. The stock has a market cap of $138.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 129.32, a PEG ratio of 5.07 and a beta of 0.98. The company’s 50 day moving average is $194.56 and its two-hundred day moving average is $189.68.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its earnings results on Monday, August 18th. The network technology company reported $0.95 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.89 by $0.06. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 12.30% and a return on equity of 17.66%. The company had revenue of $2.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.50 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.75 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 15.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Palo Alto Networks has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.750-3.850 EPS. Q1 2026 guidance at 0.880-0.900 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $211.92, for a total transaction of $25,594,426.08. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 149,190 shares in the company, valued at $31,616,344.80. This trade represents a 44.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 846,408 shares of Palo Alto Networks 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 approximately $56,119,152.78. The trade was a 75.48% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 1,315,130 shares of company stock worth $260,687,367 in the last 90 days. 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.