Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW Shares Sold by LGT Fund Management Co Ltd.

LGT Fund Management Co Ltd. lowered its position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 30.3% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 75,632 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 32,857 shares during the period. LGT Fund Management Co Ltd.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $12,125,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 4.1% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 67,929,063 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $12,512,533,000 after acquiring an additional 2,659,100 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 30,331,705 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $5,587,100,000 after purchasing an additional 594,789 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 11.9% during the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 19,375,486 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $3,568,964,000 after purchasing an additional 2,065,776 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,989,257 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $2,934,935,000 after purchasing an additional 540,756 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,415,364,000. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 1,100 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $285.08, for a total transaction of $313,588.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 81,636 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,272,790.88. The trade was a 1.33% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 62,904 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $258.65, for a total transaction of $16,270,119.60. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 235,983 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $61,037,002.95. This trade represents a 21.05% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 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 insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Mizuho raised their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $265.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. FBN Securities reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, July 1st. Scotiabank reissued 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. Arete Research raised their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $185.00 to $433.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, June 29th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $270.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have assigned a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $318.65.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 3.7%

Palo Alto Networks stock traded down $12.40 during trading on Friday, reaching $325.91. The company had a trading volume of 4,677,069 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,047,614. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12-month low of $139.57 and a 12-month high of $368.17. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $274.08 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $206.64. The firm has a market capitalization of $265.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 267.14, a PEG ratio of 12.10 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 0.86.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced 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. The company had revenue of $3 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.94 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 7.95% and a return on equity of 10.53%. Palo Alto Networks’s revenue for the quarter was up 31.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.37 EPS. 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, equities analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.