Canvas Wealth Advisors LLC Buys 5,492 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Canvas Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 14.0% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 44,634 shares of the network technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,492 shares during the period. Palo Alto Networks comprises 1.4% of Canvas Wealth Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 20th biggest position. Canvas Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $8,222,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in PANW. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter valued at about $675,865,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 108.3% during the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,467,692 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $502,263,000 after buying an additional 1,282,738 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2.0% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 65,269,963 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $13,290,270,000 after buying an additional 1,253,589 shares during the last quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 97.9% in the second quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 2,104,939 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $430,755,000 after buying an additional 1,041,145 shares during the period. Finally, MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. acquired a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the third quarter valued at approximately $162,161,000. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $200.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 19th. Citizens Jmp reissued a “market outperform” rating and issued a $250.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Wells Fargo & Company initiated coverage on Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday, March 3rd. They set an “overweight” rating and a $200.00 price objective for the company. Finally, DA Davidson set a $190.00 price objective on Palo Alto Networks and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have issued a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $210.19.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 2.5%

Shares of Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $153.22 on Thursday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $165.85 and its 200 day simple moving average is $188.00. The company has a market capitalization of $125.03 billion, a PE ratio of 84.65, a PEG ratio of 5.67 and a beta of 0.78. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12 month low of $139.57 and a 12 month high of $223.61.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 18th. The network technology company reported $1.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.94 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $2.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.58 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 17.60% and a net margin of 12.96%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.81 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Palo Alto Networks news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.81, for a total transaction of $147,848.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 46,005 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,502,184.05. This trade represents a 1.71% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director James J. Goetz sold 22,684 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $164.41, for a total transaction of $3,729,476.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 52,500 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,631,525. The trade was a 30.17% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders sold 144,252 shares of company stock valued at $26,947,635. 1.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Key Stories Impacting Palo Alto Networks

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

• Positive Sentiment: Prisma AIRS 3.0 launch — Palo Alto rolled out Prisma AIRS 3.0 to secure autonomous AI agents, strengthening its position in AI-native security and widening its platform coverage (helps deepen customer relationships and supports higher recurring revenue). Palo Alto Networks blog: Prisma AIRS 3.0
• Positive Sentiment: Prisma Browser / SASE adoption — Analyst commentary highlights Prisma Browser as a growth engine for PANW’s SASE strategy as enterprises look for integrated security for users, apps and cloud — a tailwind for subscription and platform expansion. Zacks: Prisma Browser and SASE growth
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst Buy rating remains — Freedom Capital Markets reiterated a Buy on PANW after strong Q2 results, signaling continued institutional conviction even as it trimmed its price target. Yahoo / Finance: Buy rating
• Neutral Sentiment: Industry narrative supports long-term demand — Market commentary frames autonomous security as a durable spending cycle benefiting incumbents like PANW; this is a strategic positive but not an immediate price catalyst on its own.
• Neutral Sentiment: Short-interest reporting anomalies — Multiple data feeds flagged a “large increase” in March short interest but show 0 shares / NaN changes, indicating unreliable or erroneous data; ambiguous near-term impact until clarified by exchanges or the data provider.
• Negative Sentiment: Near-term selling pressure — Coverage noting the stock dropped despite broader market gains points to profit-taking, valuation concerns and short-term technical weakness that are pressuring the share price today. Zacks: Stock drops despite market gains

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.