Pittenger & Anderson Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Pittenger & Anderson Inc. raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 11.1% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 121,764 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 12,162 shares during the period. Palo Alto Networks makes up approximately 0.9% of Pittenger & Anderson Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 27th biggest holding. Pittenger & Anderson Inc.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $24,918,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. HWG Holdings LP bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 1st quarter valued at about $31,000. Dagco Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 1st quarter valued at about $33,000. Marshall & Sullivan Inc. WA bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter valued at about $41,000. WPG Advisers LLC bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 1st quarter valued at about $37,000. Finally, Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL lifted its stake in shares of 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 valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 83 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

PANW stock opened at $211.82 on Tuesday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $144.15 and a fifty-two week high of $217.94. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $197.67 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $191.00. The company has a market capitalization of $141.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 131.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.94 and a beta of 0.98.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its earnings results on Monday, August 18th. The network technology company reported $0.95 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.50 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.75 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter 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. Sell-side analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on PANW. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $245.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. Mizuho boosted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Barclays restated an “overweight” rating and set a $215.00 price target (up previously from $210.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday, August 19th. Finally, Westpark Capital restated a “hold” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday, August 19th. Thirty analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $216.60.

Insider Activity

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.80, for a total transaction of $17,280,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 3,143,516 shares in the company, valued at approximately $543,199,564.80. This represents a 3.08% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 846,408 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $204.06, for a total value of $172,718,016.48. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 275,013 shares in the company, valued at $56,119,152.78. This trade represents a 75.48% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 1,315,130 shares of company stock worth $260,687,367. Company 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.