Ascent Wealth Partners LLC Increases Stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Ascent Wealth Partners LLC raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 4.6% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 42,302 shares of the network technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,872 shares during the period. Ascent Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $6,782,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Darwin Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter worth $25,000. Steph & Co. raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 88.2% during the 4th quarter. Steph & Co. now owns 143 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. Knuff & Co LLC purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Sittner & Nelson LLC boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 73.8% during the 4th quarter. Sittner & Nelson LLC now owns 146 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 62 shares during the period. Finally, Luken Investment Analytics LLC grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 196.2% in the 4th quarter. Luken Investment Analytics LLC now owns 154 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 102 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PANW has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Northland Securities boosted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $190.00 to $302.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Cantor Fitzgerald set a $340.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Benchmark raised their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $270.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. FBN Securities restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities upped their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $275.00 to $355.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty have assigned a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $327.74.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 1.3%

Shares of PANW opened at $358.68 on Friday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1-year low of $139.57 and a 1-year high of $368.80. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $290.04 and its 200-day moving average price is $212.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $292.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 294.00, a PEG ratio of 13.32 and a beta of 0.91.

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

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 62,904 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $258.65, for a total value of $16,270,119.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 235,983 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $61,037,002.95. This represents a 21.05% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director John P. Key sold 7,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $279.24, for a total value of $2,094,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 12,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,490,500. The trade was a 37.50% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders have sold 101,239 shares of company stock worth $27,174,360. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

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.