DAVENPORT & Co LLC Has $99.19 Million Holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

DAVENPORT & Co LLC lessened its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 0.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 536,904 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 3,254 shares during the period. DAVENPORT & Co LLC owned about 0.08% of Palo Alto Networks worth $99,188,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 65,269,963 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $13,290,270,000 after acquiring an additional 1,253,589 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.7% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 29,736,916 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $6,055,031,000 after purchasing an additional 505,924 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 0.5% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,528,248 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,532,902,000 after purchasing an additional 36,511 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 11.5% during the third quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 5,906,963 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,202,776,000 after purchasing an additional 611,375 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 0.4% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 4,037,320 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $822,079,000 after purchasing an additional 17,394 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PANW has been the topic of several recent research reports. DA Davidson set a $190.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. UBS Group set a $183.00 price objective on Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, February 19th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $220.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $230.00 to $200.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Finally, Mizuho set a $200.00 price target on Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have assigned a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $210.19.

Key Palo Alto Networks News

Here are the key news stories impacting Palo Alto Networks this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Company rolled out Prisma AIRS 3.0, positioning PANW to secure “agentic” / autonomous AI agents across discovery, risk assessment and protection — a direct product play into the growing AI‑security spending cycle that could drive upsells and stickier enterprise relationships. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Multiple simultaneous launches (Next‑Generation Trust Security for certificate lifecycle automation, an industry‑focused secure browser for agentic AI, and Prisma Browser for Business for SMBs) broaden PANW’s platform coverage — reinforcing the company’s “platform consolidation” thesis that supports long‑term ARR and margin expansion. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Market commentary highlights PANW as a leading beneficiary of the shift to autonomous security (alongside CRWD), framing recent product launches as durable growth catalysts that strengthen investor case for platform incumbents. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst activity: Freedom Capital maintained a Buy rating but lowered the price target (from $230 to $210), signaling continued confidence in demand yet a slightly reduced near‑term valuation outlook. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Scotiabank posted an FY2027 earnings estimate for PANW — an incremental data point for modeling but not a clear directional catalyst by itself. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Several outlets (PR Newswire, MSN) amplified the new product releases — positive PR flow that supports awareness but may take quarters to translate into material ARR upside. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Datafeed entries show a large increase in “short interest” but report zero shares / NaN values — indicating a likely reporting error. Still, any perceived rise in short activity or noisy headlines can pressure the stock short‑term if investors interpret the data as negative. (No reliable link available.)

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,768 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $191.03, for a total value of $23,070,311.04. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 298,887 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $57,096,383.61. This trade represents a 28.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 800 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.81, for a total value of $147,848.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 46,005 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,502,184.05. This represents a 1.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 144,252 shares of company stock worth $26,947,635 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of PANW opened at $157.21 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $166.60 and a 200-day moving average of $188.24. The company has a market cap of $128.28 billion, a PE ratio of 86.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.92 and a beta of 0.78. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a one year low of $139.57 and a one year high of $223.61.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 18th. The network technology company reported $1.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.94 by $0.09. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 12.96% and a return on equity of 17.60%. The business had revenue of $2.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.58 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.81 EPS. Palo Alto Networks’s revenue was up 14.9% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

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.