Blue Chip Partners LLC Invests $8.82 Million in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Blue Chip Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 55,006 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,819,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 15.0% during the 1st quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 410,401 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $65,796,000 after acquiring an additional 53,485 shares during the last quarter. Aviva PLC lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 5.4% during the 4th quarter. Aviva PLC now owns 568,804 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $104,774,000 after acquiring an additional 29,230 shares during the period. B&D White Capital Company LLC purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $353,000. Granite Islands Private Wealth LLC grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 43.6% in the 1st quarter. Granite Islands Private Wealth LLC now owns 15,342 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $2,453,000 after purchasing an additional 4,659 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 8.8% in the fourth quarter. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp now owns 48,458 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $8,926,000 after purchasing an additional 3,926 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of PANW opened at $323.79 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. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52-week low of $139.57 and a 52-week high of $368.80. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $300.79 and a 200-day simple moving average of $217.83. The company has a market capitalization of $263.89 billion, a PE ratio of 265.40, a P/E/G ratio of 12.02 and a beta of 0.91.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its earnings results 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 company had revenue of $3 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.94 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.37 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 31.1% compared to the same quarter last year. 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. Equities research analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on PANW shares. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $255.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $209.00 to $253.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $330.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Thursday, June 4th. Finally, Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $345.00 price target (up from $265.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty have given a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $331.48.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Palo Alto Networks news, Director Aparna Bawa sold 290 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the director directly owned 6,437 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,244,839.38. The trade was a 4.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $289.56, for a total value of $1,447,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 145,250 shares in the company, valued at $42,058,590. This trade represents a 3.33% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 101,239 shares of company stock worth $27,174,360. 1.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.