World Investment Advisors Grows Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

by · The Markets Daily

World Investment Advisors boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW – Free Report) by 4.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 21,164 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 950 shares during the period. World Investment Advisors’ holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $4,331,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of PANW. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its position in 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 purchasing an additional 4,031 shares in the last quarter. Bison Wealth LLC lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 169.1% during the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 7.2% in the first quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,387 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,261,000 after acquiring an additional 495 shares during the period. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2.3% in the first quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC now owns 9,972 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,783,000 after acquiring an additional 221 shares during the period. Finally, Smith Salley Wealth Management boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 23.1% in the first quarter. Smith Salley Wealth Management now owns 1,598 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $273,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $204.19, for a total transaction of $1,020,950.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 96,135 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,629,805.65. This represents a 4.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.80, for a total value of $17,280,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 3,143,516 shares in the company, valued at approximately $543,199,564.80. This represents a 3.08% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 1,315,130 shares of company stock valued at $260,687,367. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on PANW. Rosenblatt Securities dropped their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $235.00 to $215.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 14th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $217.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 19th. Mizuho upped their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 17th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $235.00 price objective on Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday, July 29th. Finally, KeyCorp downgraded Palo Alto Networks from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Thirty equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $218.17.

View Our Latest Research Report on Palo Alto Networks

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of PANW stock opened at $217.16 on Thursday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1 year low of $144.15 and a 1 year high of $223.61. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $203.12 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $193.64. The company has a market cap of $145.26 billion, a PE ratio of 135.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.26 and a beta of 0.98.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW – Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 18th. The network technology company reported $0.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.89 by $0.06. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 17.66% and a net margin of 12.30%.The business had revenue of $2.54 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.50 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.75 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 15.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Palo Alto Networks has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.750-3.850 EPS. Q1 2026 guidance at 0.880-0.900 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.

Palo Alto Networks Profile

(Free Report)

Palo Alto Networks, Inc provides cybersecurity solutions worldwide. The company offers firewall appliances and software; and Panorama, a security management solution for the global control of network security platform as a virtual or a physical appliance. It also provides subscription services covering the areas of threat prevention, malware and persistent threat, URL filtering, laptop and mobile device protection, DNS security, Internet of Things security, SaaS security API, and SaaS security inline, as well as threat intelligence, and data loss prevention.

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