Banco Santander S.A. Acquires 9,160 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Banco Santander S.A. increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 26.8% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 43,346 shares of the network technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 9,160 shares during the period. Banco Santander S.A.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $8,826,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Darwin Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter worth about $25,000. Howard Hughes Medical Institute purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the second quarter worth approximately $29,000. MTM Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the second quarter valued at approximately $31,000. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 39.7% in the third quarter. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 176 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the period. Finally, Spurstone Advisory Services LLC bought a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter worth approximately $41,000. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 0.3%

NASDAQ PANW opened at $148.92 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $174.60 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $190.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $121.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 82.28, a P/E/G ratio of 5.39 and a beta of 0.75. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12-month low of $139.57 and a 12-month high of $223.61.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 17th. The network technology company reported $1.03 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.94 by $0.09. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 17.60% and a net margin of 12.96%.The firm had revenue of $2.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.58 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.81 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.9% on a year-over-year basis. Palo Alto Networks has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.650-3.700 EPS and its Q3 2026 guidance at 0.780-0.800 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.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have weighed in on PANW. Needham & Company LLC decreased their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $230.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Citigroup reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 price objective (down from $235.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $240.00 to $220.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Westpark Capital reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $200.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have assigned a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $211.62.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, Director James J. Goetz sold 12,500 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Monday, December 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $195.33, for a total transaction of $2,441,625.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 75,184 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,685,690.72. The trade was a 14.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $188.18, for a total value of $940,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 155,119 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,190,293.42. The trade was a 3.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 260,542 shares of company stock valued at $49,910,995 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

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.