Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW Stake Increased by Aviance Capital Partners LLC

Aviance Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 386.7% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 7,237 shares of the network technology company’s stock after buying an additional 5,750 shares during the period. Aviance Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $1,160,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PANW. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,415,364,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 2,659,100 shares during the period. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 1,665.1% during the first quarter. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. now owns 2,761,909 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $442,788,000 after purchasing an additional 2,605,433 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 11.9% during 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 purchasing an additional 2,065,776 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Employees Provident Fund Board acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the fourth quarter worth $281,542,000. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $209.00 to $253.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $275.00 to $350.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Needham & Company LLC raised their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $350.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $255.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Finally, Citigroup reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $400.00 target price (up from $340.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Monday, July 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty have given a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $327.74.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $358.68 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $290.04 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $212.48. 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, Inc. has a 52-week low of $139.57 and a 52-week high of $368.80.

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

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, Director Helle Thorning-Schmidt sold 700 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $346.85, for a total transaction of $242,795.00. Following the sale, the director owned 5,898 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,045,721.30. The trade was a 10.61% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director James J. Goetz sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $279.90, for a total value of $5,598,000.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 20,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,598,000. This trade represents a 50.00% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 101,239 shares of company stock worth $27,174,360 over the last quarter. Insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

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.