Braun Stacey Associates Inc. Trims Stock Holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Braun Stacey Associates Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 3.9% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 117,088 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 4,798 shares during the quarter. Braun Stacey Associates Inc.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $18,772,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake 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 worth $12,512,533,000 after buying an additional 2,659,100 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 30,331,705 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $5,587,100,000 after acquiring an additional 594,789 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 11.9% during the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 19,375,486 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $3,568,964,000 after acquiring an additional 2,065,776 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted 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 acquiring an additional 540,756 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the 4th quarter worth $1,415,364,000. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, 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 transaction of $5,598,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 20,000 shares in the company, valued at $5,598,000. The trade was a 50.00% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Aparna Bawa sold 345 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $290.17, for a total value of $100,108.65. Following the transaction, the director owned 7,359 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,135,361.03. The trade was a 4.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders sold 106,389 shares of company stock worth $27,570,630. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on PANW shares. Loop Capital upped their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $160.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. 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 research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $255.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Berenberg Bank boosted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $290.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Finally, Mizuho upped their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $265.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-eight have issued a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $306.59.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 3.8%

NASDAQ PANW opened at $304.20 on Friday. 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, Inc. has a one year low of $139.57 and a one year high of $306.24. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $241.22 and a 200-day simple moving average of $196.11. The firm has a market capitalization of $247.92 billion, a PE ratio of 249.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 11.30 and a beta of 0.94.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, June 2nd. The network technology company reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 firm had revenue of $3 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.94 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.37 earnings per share. Palo Alto Networks’s quarterly 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. On average, equities analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Palo Alto Networks Company 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.