KCM Investment Advisors LLC Takes $418,000 Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

KCM Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 2,045 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $418,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. St. Clair Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 0.3% in the second quarter. St. Clair Advisors LLC now owns 15,800 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $3,233,000 after buying an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC. boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2.1% during the 2nd quarter. Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC. now owns 2,467 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $496,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Csenge Advisory Group grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2.4% in the 1st quarter. Csenge Advisory Group now owns 2,271 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $381,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. TFG Advisers LLC grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. TFG Advisers LLC now owns 4,668 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $955,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GSG Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 0.4% during the first quarter. GSG Advisors LLC now owns 12,450 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $2,154,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PANW has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Mizuho increased their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 17th. Stephens restated an “equal weight” rating and set a $205.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday, August 19th. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $215.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday, August 19th. Rosenblatt Securities dropped their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $235.00 to $215.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 14th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Thirty analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $218.17.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 846,408 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $204.06, for a total transaction of $172,718,016.48. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 275,013 shares in the company, valued at approximately $56,119,152.78. This trade represents a 75.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $191.11, for a total value of $23,081,119.14. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 177,954 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $34,008,788.94. The trade was a 40.43% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 1,215,830 shares of company stock valued at $249,160,428. 2.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of PANW opened at $212.29 on Monday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $207.16 and its 200-day moving average is $196.19. The company has a market capitalization of $142.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 132.27, a P/E/G ratio of 5.05 and a beta of 0.95. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $144.15 and a fifty-two week high of $223.61.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 18th. The network technology company reported $0.95 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.89 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $2.54 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.50 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 12.30% and a return on equity of 17.66%. The firm’s revenue was up 15.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.75 earnings per share. 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 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Palo Alto Networks Profile

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.