Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. Grows Stock Holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 3.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 73,658 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,664 shares during the period. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $13,568,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Darwin Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the second quarter valued at about $25,000. Steph & Co. grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 88.2% during the fourth quarter. Steph & Co. now owns 143 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. Knuff & Co LLC bought a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Sittner & Nelson LLC grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 73.8% during the fourth quarter. Sittner & Nelson LLC now owns 146 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 62 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Luken Investment Analytics LLC grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 196.2% during the fourth quarter. Luken Investment Analytics LLC now owns 154 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 102 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 0.0%

NASDAQ PANW opened at $279.62 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.86. The stock has a market capitalization of $227.89 billion, a PE ratio of 229.20, a PEG ratio of 10.38 and a beta of 0.94. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1 year low of $139.57 and a 1 year high of $302.95. The business’s 50-day moving average is $216.44 and its 200 day moving average is $189.22.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, June 2nd. The network technology company reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.06. The company 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%.Palo Alto Networks’s quarterly revenue was up 31.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last 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. Sell-side analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Truist Financial raised their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $275.00 to $375.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Northland Securities raised their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $190.00 to $302.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Stephens raised their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $180.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Susquehanna reaffirmed 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, New Street Research reduced their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $240.00 to $220.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-seven have given a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $306.59.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Aparna Bawa sold 536 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owned 7,704 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,157,120. This trade represents a 6.50% 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 link. Also, Director John P. Key sold 7,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $279.24, for a total value of $2,094,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 12,500 shares in the company, valued at $3,490,500. The trade was a 37.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 81,044 shares of company stock valued at $20,424,722 over the last ninety days. Corporate 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.