First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. Sells 1,155 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. lessened its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 14.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 7,101 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 1,155 shares during the quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $1,453,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in PANW. Dagco Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 1st quarter worth about $33,000. WPG Advisers LLC acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 1st quarter worth about $37,000. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 58.9% during 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 during the last quarter. Stonebridge Financial Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 46.8% during 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Marshall & Sullivan Inc. WA acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter worth about $41,000. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In other 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 value of $17,280,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly 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 document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $211.92, for a total value of $25,594,426.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 149,190 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $31,616,344.80. The trade was a 44.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 1,315,130 shares of company stock worth $260,687,367. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 1.2%

Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $215.02 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $199.99 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $191.74. The stock has a market cap of $143.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 133.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.05 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.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 18th. The network technology company reported $0.95 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.06. The firm 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 company’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm 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, analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on PANW shares. Piper Sandler raised Palo Alto Networks from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $200.00 to $225.00 in a research report on Tuesday, August 12th. BTIG Research raised Palo Alto Networks from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 13th. Guggenheim boosted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 19th. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $228.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 19th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $223.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Friday, August 15th. Thirty analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $217.22.

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.