Align Financial LLC Takes Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Align Financial LLC bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 103,889 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,136,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the 4th quarter worth about $1,415,364,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 4.1% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 67,929,063 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $12,512,533,000 after acquiring an additional 2,659,100 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 11.9% during the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 19,375,486 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $3,568,964,000 after acquiring an additional 2,065,776 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 108.3% in the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,467,692 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $502,263,000 after buying an additional 1,282,738 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Eurizon Capital SGR S.p.A. acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the 4th quarter valued at $164,968,000. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 0.8%

Shares of PANW stock opened at $282.13 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $229.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 231.25, a PEG ratio of 10.39 and a beta of 0.94. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $223.60 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $191.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 0.86. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $139.57 and a fifty-two week high of $302.95.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $3 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.94 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 10.53% and a net margin of 7.95%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 31.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $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. Research analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 62,904 shares of the firm’s 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 transaction, the executive vice president owned 235,983 shares in the company, valued at $61,037,002.95. This trade represents a 21.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Aparna Bawa sold 536 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.00, for a total value of $150,080.00. Following the sale, the director owned 7,704 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,157,120. This trade represents a 6.50% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 101,044 shares of company stock valued at $26,022,722 over the last quarter. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have weighed in on the company. Arete Research upgraded Palo Alto Networks from a “sell” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $185.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, June 1st. Capital One Financial lifted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $168.00 to $248.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 19th. New Street Research decreased their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $240.00 to $220.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $209.00 to $253.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-eight have assigned a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $306.59.

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.