Teacher Retirement System of Texas Raises Stock Holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Teacher Retirement System of Texas increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 117.8% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 328,824 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 177,831 shares during the quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas’ holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $67,291,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Whipplewood Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 6,400.0% during the 2nd quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 130 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 128 shares during the last quarter. Briaud Financial Planning Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter worth $28,000. Dagco Inc. acquired a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the 1st quarter valued at about $33,000. Marshall & Sullivan Inc. WA acquired a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter valued at about $41,000. Finally, WPG Advisers LLC acquired a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the 1st quarter valued at about $37,000. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.16, for a total value of $141,512.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the executive vice president owned 149,190 shares in the company, valued at $31,616,344.80. The trade was a 44.74% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 1,315,130 shares of company stock valued at $260,687,367. 2.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of PANW stock opened at $217.11 on Monday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $200.79 and its 200-day simple moving average is $192.59. The firm has a market capitalization of $145.22 billion, a PE ratio of 135.27, a P/E/G ratio of 5.16 and a beta of 0.98. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $144.15 and a fifty-two week high of $218.23.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 18th. The network technology company reported $0.95 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.89 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $2.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 was up 15.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company 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. Sell-side analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently issued reports on PANW shares. Westpark Capital reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Tuesday, August 19th. Truist Financial set a $220.00 target price on Palo Alto Networks and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 19th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $223.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Friday, August 15th. Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $215.00 target price (up from $210.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Tuesday, August 19th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein set a $207.00 target price on Palo Alto Networks and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 19th. Thirty equities 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 company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $217.22.

About Palo Alto Networks

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.