Bailard Inc. Sells 4,063 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Bailard Inc. lessened its holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 6.1% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 62,121 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 4,063 shares during the period. Bailard Inc.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $12,712,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Whipplewood Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 6,400.0% in the 2nd quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 130 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 128 shares during the period. Briaud Financial Planning Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the second quarter worth $28,000. Dagco Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the first quarter valued at about $33,000. WPG Advisers LLC acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the first quarter valued at about $37,000. Finally, Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL grew 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 valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 83 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. KeyCorp cut Palo Alto Networks from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. UBS Group set a $250.00 price objective on Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $215.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 20th. Finally, DA Davidson reissued a “buy” rating and set a $215.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday, August 19th. Thirty equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $218.67.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 846,408 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $204.06, for a total transaction of $172,718,016.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 275,013 shares in the company, valued at $56,119,152.78. This represents a 75.48% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $219.97, for a total transaction of $153,979.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 47,505 shares in the company, valued at $10,449,674.85. This represents a 1.45% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 1,215,830 shares of company stock valued at $249,160,428. Company insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of PANW stock opened at $218.27 on Wednesday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $144.15 and a fifty-two week high of $223.61. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $208.24 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $196.75. The company has a market cap of $149.29 billion, a PE ratio of 135.99, a P/E/G ratio of 5.15 and a beta of 0.95.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $2.54 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.50 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 17.66% and a net margin of 12.30%.Palo Alto Networks’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $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, equities analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.