Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW Shares Purchased by Ascentis Independent Advisors

Ascentis Independent Advisors grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 83.0% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 12,068 shares of the network technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,475 shares during the quarter. Ascentis Independent Advisors’ holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $1,935,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 2.7%

Shares of Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $357.53 on Tuesday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $258.43 and a 200-day simple moving average of $201.50. The firm has a market cap of $291.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 293.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 12.92 and a beta of 0.91. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $139.57 and a fifty-two week high of $368.17. 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 (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, June 2nd. The network technology company reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.94 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.37 EPS. Palo Alto Networks’s revenue 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. On average, equities analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Loop Capital boosted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $160.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Scotiabank reaffirmed a “sector outperform” rating and issued a $320.00 target price (up from $180.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $220.00 to $350.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. DA Davidson raised their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $190.00 to $345.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Finally, Barclays restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $315.00 target price (up from $220.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have issued a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $317.78.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Palo Alto Networks news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 900 shares of Palo Alto Networks 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 owned 79,644 shares in the company, valued at approximately $27,477,180. The trade was a 1.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director James J. Goetz sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $279.90, for a total value of $5,598,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 20,000 shares in the company, valued at $5,598,000. This represents a 50.00% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders sold 102,111 shares of company stock worth $27,204,024. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

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.