Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. Cuts Stock Holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. decreased its position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 24.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 19,128 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 6,031 shares during the quarter. Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $3,523,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Darwin Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter worth about $25,000. Howard Hughes Medical Institute purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter valued at $29,000. Winch Advisory Services LLC raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 96.1% during the 3rd quarter. Winch Advisory Services LLC now owns 149 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 73 shares during the period. Caitlin John LLC bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 3rd quarter worth $31,000. Finally, Painted Porch Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 72.7% in the 3rd quarter. Painted Porch Advisors LLC now owns 152 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 64 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Key Palo Alto Networks News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Prisma AIRS 3.0 launch — Palo Alto rolled out Prisma AIRS 3.0 to secure autonomous AI agents, strengthening its position in AI-native security and widening its platform coverage (helps deepen customer relationships and supports higher recurring revenue). Palo Alto Networks blog: Prisma AIRS 3.0
• Positive Sentiment: Prisma Browser / SASE adoption — Analyst commentary highlights Prisma Browser as a growth engine for PANW’s SASE strategy as enterprises look for integrated security for users, apps and cloud — a tailwind for subscription and platform expansion. Zacks: Prisma Browser and SASE growth
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst Buy rating remains — Freedom Capital Markets reiterated a Buy on PANW after strong Q2 results, signaling continued institutional conviction even as it trimmed its price target. Yahoo / Finance: Buy rating
• Neutral Sentiment: Industry narrative supports long-term demand — Market commentary frames autonomous security as a durable spending cycle benefiting incumbents like PANW; this is a strategic positive but not an immediate price catalyst on its own.
• Neutral Sentiment: Short-interest reporting anomalies — Multiple data feeds flagged a “large increase” in March short interest but show 0 shares / NaN changes, indicating unreliable or erroneous data; ambiguous near-term impact until clarified by exchanges or the data provider.
• Negative Sentiment: Near-term selling pressure — Coverage noting the stock dropped despite broader market gains points to profit-taking, valuation concerns and short-term technical weakness that are pressuring the share price today. Zacks: Stock drops despite market gains

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have commented on the stock. Truist Financial set a $200.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. Daiwa Securities Group decreased their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $212.00 to $175.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 24th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $225.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Wolfe Research upped their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, December 15th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have issued a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $210.19.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,768 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $191.03, for a total transaction of $23,070,311.04. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 298,887 shares in the company, valued at approximately $57,096,383.61. The trade was a 28.78% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director James J. Goetz sold 22,684 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $164.41, for a total value of $3,729,476.44. Following the sale, the director directly owned 52,500 shares in the company, valued at $8,631,525. This trade represents a 30.17% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders sold 144,252 shares of company stock worth $26,947,635. 1.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 2.5%

PANW opened at $153.22 on Thursday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12 month low of $139.57 and a 12 month high of $223.61. The company has a market cap of $125.03 billion, a PE ratio of 84.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.67 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a 50 day moving average of $165.85 and a 200 day moving average of $188.00.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.94 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $2.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.58 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 12.96% and a return on equity of 17.60%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.81 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.