Bank of Nova Scotia Sells 157,933 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Bank of Nova Scotia decreased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 55.6% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 126,194 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 157,933 shares during the period. Bank of Nova Scotia’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $20,234,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. GSG Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 0.4% during the first quarter. GSG Advisors LLC now owns 12,536 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $2,010,000 after acquiring an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. Outfitters Financial LLC lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Outfitters Financial LLC now owns 3,265 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $601,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC now owns 2,312 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $471,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. PGIM Custom Harvest LLC boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. PGIM Custom Harvest LLC now owns 3,859 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $786,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Signal Advisors Wealth LLC increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 4.8% during the 4th quarter. Signal Advisors Wealth LLC now owns 1,233 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $227,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of PANW opened at $323.79 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The company has a market capitalization of $263.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 265.40, a PEG ratio of 12.02 and a beta of 0.91. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $300.79 and a 200 day moving average of $217.58. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12 month low of $139.57 and a 12 month high of $368.80.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. The business had revenue of $3 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.94 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 10.53% and a net margin of 7.95%.The business’s revenue was up 31.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $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. As a group, sell-side 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 related news, Director Helle Thorning-Schmidt sold 700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $346.85, for a total transaction of $242,795.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 5,898 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,045,721.30. This trade represents a 10.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director James J. Goetz sold 20,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $279.90, for a total transaction of $5,598,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 20,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,598,000. This represents a 50.00% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 101,239 shares of company stock worth $27,174,360. 1.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PANW has been the subject of several analyst reports. Robert W. Baird set a $320.00 price objective on Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. 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 report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Scotiabank reissued a “sector outperform” rating and issued a $320.00 price target (up from $180.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Susquehanna restated a “positive” rating and set a $350.00 price objective (up from $200.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $209.00 to $253.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. One 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 assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $331.48.

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.