Values First Advisors Inc. Increases Holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Values First Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 25.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,839 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 372 shares during the quarter. Values First Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $376,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of PANW. HWG Holdings LP purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the first quarter worth about $31,000. Dagco Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the first quarter worth about $33,000. WPG Advisers LLC purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the first quarter worth about $37,000. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 58.9% in the first 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Stonebridge Financial Group LLC raised its position in Palo Alto Networks by 46.8% during the first quarter. Stonebridge Financial Group LLC now owns 232 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 74 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $205.51 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $137.47 billion, a PE ratio of 128.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.91 and a beta of 0.98. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12 month low of $144.15 and a 12 month high of $217.94. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $195.98 and a 200-day simple moving average of $190.04.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $2.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.50 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 17.66% and a net margin of 12.30%.The business’s revenue was up 15.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous 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. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently weighed in on PANW. Piper Sandler upgraded Palo Alto Networks from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $200.00 to $225.00 in a research report on Tuesday, August 12th. Truist Financial set a $220.00 price target on Palo Alto Networks and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 19th. Tigress Financial began coverage on Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Friday, September 26th. They set a “buy” rating and a $245.00 price target for the company. UBS Group set a $245.00 price target on Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Friday, September 26th. Finally, BTIG Research upgraded Palo Alto Networks from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. Twenty-nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $216.00.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 100,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.80, for a total value of $17,280,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 3,143,516 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $543,199,564.80. The trade was a 3.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.16, for a total value of $141,512.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 32,474 shares in the company, valued at $6,564,943.84. This represents a 2.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 1,315,130 shares of company stock valued at $260,687,367. Insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

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.