Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 5.2% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 97,527 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,842 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $15,670,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 147.7% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,761 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,230,000 after buying an additional 4,031 shares during the last quarter. Bison Wealth LLC raised its position in Palo Alto Networks by 169.1% during the fourth quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 5,212 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $948,000 after acquiring an additional 3,275 shares during the period. Sivia Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 66.3% in the 2nd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 3,484 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $713,000 after purchasing an additional 1,389 shares in the last quarter. Osterweis Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 11,100.0% during the 2nd quarter. Osterweis Capital Management Inc. now owns 560 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $115,000 after acquiring an additional 555 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Main Street Financial Solutions LLC raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 6.0% in the 2nd quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC now owns 4,398 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $900,000 after acquiring an additional 249 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Palo Alto Networks News Roundup

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

• Positive Sentiment: J.P. Morgan-style rotation into cybersecurity is showing up in the news flow, with multiple commentators arguing that AI-driven security demand should benefit PANW as enterprises spend more to protect themselves from increasingly powerful AI tools. Why Palo Alto Stock Can Be a Big Winner in Cybersecurity’s New AI Era
• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley said sentiment on software stocks has become “too negative,” and named high-profile names like PANW as potential rebound candidates if investors rotate back into quality software leaders. Morgan Stanley Analysts Say Sentiment Has Gotten ‘Too Negative’ on Software Stocks. These Are Their Picks
• Positive Sentiment: Citi Wealth’s CIO highlighted cybersecurity as a favored theme, saying “infinite AI agents” could drive more enterprise spending on security, which reinforces the bull case for PANW. Citi Wealth CIO Warns “Infinite AI Agents” Will Accelerate Cybersecurity’s Share of Enterprise Spending
• Positive Sentiment: Palo Alto Networks announced it intends to acquire Embrace to expand its observability platform with digital experience monitoring, adding real-user monitoring and synthetics tools that could broaden its product offering and deepen customer value. Palo Alto Networks to Extend Leading Observability Platform with Innovative Digital Experience Monitoring
• Neutral Sentiment: One market note said PANW had slipped recently alongside broader software weakness, suggesting investor caution may still be weighing on the shares. Palo Alto Networks (PANW) Sees a More Significant Dip Than Broader Market: Some Facts to Know

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Palo Alto Networks news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 900 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $345.00, for a total value of $310,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 79,644 shares in the company, valued at $27,477,180. This represents a 1.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Helle Thorning-Schmidt sold 700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $346.85, for a total value of $242,795.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 5,898 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,045,721.30. The trade was a 10.61% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders sold 101,239 shares of company stock worth $27,174,360. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 1.9%

Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $342.15 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $278.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 280.45, a P/E/G ratio of 12.95 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a twelve month low of $139.57 and a twelve month high of $368.80. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $295.28 and its 200-day simple moving average is $214.74.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research 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 report on Thursday, June 4th. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $275.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. DA Davidson raised their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $190.00 to $345.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Scotiabank reaffirmed a “sector outperform” rating and set a $320.00 price target (up from $180.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $209.00 to $253.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. One 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 given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $331.48.

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.