State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Increases Holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 221,480 shares of the network technology company’s stock after buying an additional 1,601 shares during the quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $45,324,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Briaud Financial Planning Inc purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter worth about $28,000. Dagco Inc. purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the 1st quarter worth about $33,000. WPG Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the 1st quarter worth about $37,000. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL raised 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 during the period. Finally, Stonebridge Financial Group LLC raised 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 during the period. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 1.0%

Shares of PANW opened at $217.11 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $145.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 135.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.11 and a beta of 0.98. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a twelve month low of $144.15 and a twelve month high of $218.23. The company has a 50 day moving average of $200.79 and a two-hundred day moving average of $192.18.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 18th. The network technology company reported $0.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 net margin of 12.30% and a return on equity of 17.66%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 15.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $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, sell-side analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $230.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, September 3rd. KeyCorp downgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. DA Davidson restated a “buy” rating and issued a $215.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday, August 19th. Oppenheimer upped their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 17th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities dropped their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $235.00 to $215.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 14th. Thirty research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $217.22.

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.