Daiichi Life Insurance Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW – Free Report) in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 45,289 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,444,000.
Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of PANW. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter valued at approximately $25,833,462,000. Norges Bank bought a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the fourth quarter valued at $1,415,364,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter worth $1,569,755,000. Deutsche Bank AG purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter worth $1,481,236,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 16.0% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 22,476,753 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $3,603,473,000 after buying an additional 3,101,267 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
A number of research analysts have recently commented on PANW shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $220.00 to $350.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $370.00 price objective (up from $315.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $345.00 price objective (up from $265.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. BNP Paribas Exane upped their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $330.00 to $380.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. Finally, Wolfe Research reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $320.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty have given a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $362.67.
Palo Alto Networks Price Performance
Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $358.04 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $291.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 293.48, a PEG ratio of 12.02 and a beta of 0.91. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a one year low of $139.57 and a one year high of $398.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.86. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $337.38 and a 200-day moving average price of $241.72.
Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW – Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, June 2nd. The network technology company reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79 by $0.06. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 10.53% and a net margin of 7.95%.The company had revenue of $3 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.94 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.37 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 31.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Palo Alto Networks has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.770-3.790 EPS and its Q4 2026 guidance at 0.960-0.980 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.02 EPS for the current year.
Insider Activity
In related news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $289.56, for a total transaction of $1,447,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 145,250 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $42,058,590. The trade was a 3.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director James J. Goetz sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $279.90, for a total transaction of $5,598,000.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 20,000 shares in the company, valued at $5,598,000. This trade represents a 50.00% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 37,935 shares of company stock valued at $10,809,461. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.
About Palo Alto Networks
Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ: PANW) is a cybersecurity company founded in 2005 and headquartered in Santa Clara, California. The firm develops a broad suite of security products and services designed to prevent successful cyberattacks and protect enterprise networks, clouds, and endpoints. Built around a platform strategy, its offerings target threat prevention, detection, response and governance across hybrid and multi-cloud environments.
The company’s product portfolio includes next‑generation firewalls as a core on‑premises capability, alongside cloud‑delivered security services and software for securing public and private clouds.
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