Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW – Free Report) by 18.8% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 20,544 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,257 shares during the period. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $3,294,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 4.1% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 67,929,063 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $12,512,533,000 after acquiring an additional 2,659,100 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 30,331,705 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $5,587,100,000 after purchasing an additional 594,789 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 11.9% during the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 19,375,486 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $3,568,964,000 after purchasing an additional 2,065,776 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,989,257 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $2,934,935,000 after purchasing an additional 540,756 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,415,364,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.
Analyst Ratings Changes
PANW has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Barclays restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $315.00 price target (up from $220.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $209.00 to $253.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. HSBC upped their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $114.00 to $207.00 in a research report on Thursday, June 4th. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $345.00 price target (up from $265.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $325.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty have assigned a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $331.48.
Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 1.5%
Shares of PANW opened at $314.15 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $305.12 and its 200 day moving average is $220.50. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $139.57 and a fifty-two week high of $368.80. The stock has a market capitalization of $256.03 billion, a PE ratio of 257.50, a P/E/G ratio of 11.84 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 0.86.
Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW – Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 net margin of 7.95% and a return on equity of 10.53%. The company had revenue of $3 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.94 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.37 earnings per share. Palo Alto Networks’s revenue was up 31.1% on a year-over-year basis. 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. Sell-side analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Insider Activity
In related news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 900 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $345.00, for a total value of $310,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 79,644 shares in the company, valued at approximately $27,477,180. This trade represents a 1.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director James J. Goetz sold 20,000 shares of the business’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 value of $5,598,000.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 20,000 shares in the company, valued at $5,598,000. The trade was a 50.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders sold 101,239 shares of company stock worth $27,174,360. 1.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.
Palo Alto Networks Profile
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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