Fifth Third Bancorp Boosts Stock Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 10.7% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,542,415 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 149,111 shares during the quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp owned approximately 0.19% of Palo Alto Networks worth $247,280,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of PANW. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 4.1% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 67,929,063 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $12,512,533,000 after acquiring an additional 2,659,100 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake 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% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,989,257 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $2,934,935,000 after purchasing an additional 540,756 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the fourth quarter worth $1,415,364,000. 79.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $289.56, for a total value of $1,447,800.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 145,250 shares in the company, valued at $42,058,590. This represents a 3.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Aparna Bawa sold 290 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $348.74, for a total transaction of $101,134.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 6,437 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,244,839.38. This trade represents a 4.31% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 101,239 shares of company stock valued at $27,174,360. 1.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

PANW stock traded down $12.40 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $325.91. The stock had a trading volume of 4,677,069 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,047,614. The stock has a market cap of $265.62 billion, a PE ratio of 267.14, a P/E/G ratio of 12.10 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. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $274.08 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $206.64. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52-week low of $139.57 and a 52-week high of $368.17.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, June 2nd. The network technology company reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $3 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.94 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 10.53% and a net margin of 7.95%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 31.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.37 EPS. 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. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.03 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on PANW shares. Weiss Ratings cut Palo Alto Networks from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 4th. Guggenheim cut Palo Alto Networks from a “neutral” rating to a “reduce” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. Truist Financial raised their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $275.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $209.00 to $253.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Finally, Argus upped their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $222.00 to $320.00 in a report on Friday, June 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have given a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $318.65.

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.