Forsta AP Fonden Increases Stock Holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Forsta AP Fonden raised its position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 17.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 231,300 shares of the network technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 33,600 shares during the quarter. Forsta AP Fonden’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $47,333,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the 1st quarter worth approximately $810,047,000. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $633,068,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 41.9% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 7,235,406 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,234,650,000 after acquiring an additional 2,134,735 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 77.1% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 3,879,506 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $662,000,000 after acquiring an additional 1,688,432 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2.5% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 62,775,544 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $10,712,019,000 after acquiring an additional 1,541,637 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on PANW shares. DA Davidson reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $215.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday, August 19th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $223.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Friday, August 15th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $230.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, September 3rd. 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. Finally, Tigress Financial began coverage on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Friday, September 26th. They set a “buy” rating and a $245.00 target price on the stock. Thirty research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $218.67.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 0.8%

PANW stock opened at $218.27 on Wednesday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $208.24 and a 200 day moving average price of $196.75. The stock has a market cap of $149.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 135.99, a PEG ratio of 5.15 and a beta of 0.95. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $144.15 and a fifty-two week high of $223.61.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. The company had revenue of $2.54 billion for 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 firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last 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. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 846,408 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $204.06, for a total value of $172,718,016.48. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 275,013 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $56,119,152.78. The trade was a 75.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $204.19, for a total transaction of $1,020,950.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 96,135 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,629,805.65. This represents a 4.94% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 1,215,830 shares of company stock valued at $249,160,428 over the last quarter. 2.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.