Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC Increases Stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 2.9% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 31,028 shares of the network technology company’s stock after buying an additional 885 shares during the period. Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $6,350,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. HWG Holdings LP purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the first quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Dagco Inc. purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the first quarter valued at approximately $33,000. WPG Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the first quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 58.9% during the first quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL now owns 224 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 83 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Stonebridge Financial Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 46.8% in the first quarter. Stonebridge Financial Group LLC now owns 232 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 74 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PANW has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. KeyCorp cut shares of Palo Alto Networks from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $230.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, September 3rd. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $232.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday, August 19th. Tigress Financial initiated coverage on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Friday, September 26th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $245.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $215.00 price objective (up from $210.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday, August 19th. Thirty analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $214.64.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $204.19, for a total value of $1,020,950.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 96,135 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,629,805.65. This trade represents a 4.94% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 846,408 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 23rd. The stock was 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 1,194,356 shares of company stock worth $235,092,941. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 1.0%

Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $207.19 on Monday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $190.20 and a 200-day moving average price of $188.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $138.59 billion, a PE ratio of 129.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.93 and a beta of 0.98. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12-month low of $144.15 and a 12-month high of $212.10.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its earnings results on Monday, August 18th. The network technology company reported $0.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $2.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.50 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 12.30% and a return on equity of 17.66%. The business’s revenue was up 15.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business 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. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Palo Alto Networks Profile

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.