Bleakley Financial Group LLC Grows Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Bleakley Financial Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 16.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 16,929 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,452 shares during the period. Bleakley Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $3,464,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Dagco Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 1st quarter worth about $33,000. WPG Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the first quarter worth about $37,000. 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 buying an additional 83 shares in the last quarter. Stonebridge Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 46.8% during the 1st quarter. Stonebridge Financial Group LLC now owns 232 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 74 shares during the period. Finally, Marshall & Sullivan Inc. WA acquired a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $41,000. 79.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of PANW opened at $215.02 on Friday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12-month low of $144.15 and a 12-month high of $217.94. The stock has a market capitalization of $143.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 133.97, a P/E/G ratio of 5.05 and a beta of 0.98. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $199.99 and its 200-day moving average is $191.74.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 18th. The network technology company reported $0.95 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.89 by $0.06. The company 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%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 15.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm 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, equities research analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently commented on PANW shares. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $210.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 2nd. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $217.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 19th. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $207.00 price objective on Palo Alto Networks and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 19th. Rosenblatt Securities lowered their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $235.00 to $215.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 14th. Finally, Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $215.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. Thirty equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $217.22.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 96,135 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,629,805.65. The trade was a 4.94% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 100,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Friday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.80, for a total value of $17,280,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 3,143,516 shares in the company, valued at $543,199,564.80. This represents a 3.08% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,315,130 shares of company stock valued at $260,687,367 over the last 90 days. 2.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Company 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.