SFE Investment Counsel lowered its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW – Free Report) by 9.6% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 72,775 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 7,758 shares during the quarter. Palo Alto Networks accounts for 4.1% of SFE Investment Counsel’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. SFE Investment Counsel’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $28,914,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $25,833,462,000. Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter valued at $1,968,304,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter valued at $1,569,755,000. Deutsche Bank AG acquired a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter valued at $1,481,236,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE raised its position in Palo Alto Networks by 16.0% during the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 22,476,753 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $3,603,473,000 after buying an additional 3,101,267 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
Several brokerages have recently weighed in on PANW. Evercore reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Monday, August 31st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $430.00 target price (up from $350.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $410.00 price target (up from $345.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Yorkville Ives started coverage on Palo Alto Networks in a report on Monday, October 5th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $500.00 target price for the company. Finally, Wedbush initiated coverage on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Friday, September 11th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $400.00 target price on the stock. Thirty-nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $398.55.
Read Our Latest Analysis on Palo Alto Networks
Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 3.9%
Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $365.87 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a current ratio of 0.87. The firm has a market capitalization of $299.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 717.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 10.49 and a beta of 0.93. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $139.57 and a fifty-two week high of $432.33. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $372.15 and its two-hundred day moving average is $269.89.
Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW – Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, September 1st. The network technology company reported $1.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.98 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $3.41 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.35 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 8.50% and a net margin of 2.67%. The business’s revenue was up 34.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.95 EPS. Palo Alto Networks has set its FY 2027 guidance at 4.160-4.190 EPS and its Q1 2027 guidance at 0.960-0.980 EPS. Analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Insider Activity
In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 27,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $391.60, for a total transaction of $10,769,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 117,750 shares in the company, valued at approximately $46,110,900. This represents a 18.93% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director James Goetz sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $376.68, for a total value of $7,533,600.00. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 54,210 shares of company stock worth $20,823,029 in the last quarter. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.
About Palo Alto Networks
Palo Alto Networks, Inc (NASDAQ:PANW) is a global cybersecurity company that helps organizations protect networks, cloud environments, endpoints, and digital infrastructure. Its offerings are designed to prevent cyberattacks, identify security risks, monitor activity, and support incident response across enterprise, government, and service-provider environments.
The company’s portfolio includes network security products such as next-generation firewalls and security operations tools; Prisma, its cloud security platform; and Cortex, a suite focused on endpoint protection, threat detection, security analytics, and automated response.
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