PensionDanmark Pensionsforsikringsaktieselskab Acquires 26,644 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

PensionDanmark Pensionsforsikringsaktieselskab increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 27.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 123,850 shares of the network technology company’s stock after buying an additional 26,644 shares during the period. PensionDanmark Pensionsforsikringsaktieselskab’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $42,235,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of PANW. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the fourth quarter worth $1,415,364,000. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 16.0% during the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 22,476,753 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $3,603,473,000 after purchasing an additional 3,101,267 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted 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 worth $12,512,533,000 after purchasing an additional 2,659,100 shares in the last quarter. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 1,665.1% in the 1st quarter. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. now owns 2,761,909 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $442,788,000 after purchasing an additional 2,605,433 shares during the period. Finally, Amundi boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 67.1% in the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 6,297,833 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,009,669,000 after purchasing an additional 2,528,299 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of PANW opened at $359.49 on Friday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12-month low of $139.57 and a 12-month high of $376.98. 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 cap of $292.98 billion, a PE ratio of 294.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 12.19 and a beta of 0.91. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $316.24 and a 200-day moving average price of $227.25.

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. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 7.95% and a return on equity of 10.53%. The company had revenue of $3 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.94 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.37 earnings per share. Palo Alto Networks’s revenue for the quarter was up 31.1% compared to the same quarter last year. 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 forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, Director James J. Goetz sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $279.90, for a total value of $5,598,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 20,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,598,000. The trade was a 50.00% 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, Director Helle Thorning-Schmidt sold 700 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $346.85, for a total value of $242,795.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 5,898 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,045,721.30. This trade represents a 10.61% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 101,239 shares of company stock worth $27,174,360 in the last three months. 1.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on PANW shares. Capital One Financial set a $421.00 price target on Palo Alto Networks and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. DA Davidson raised their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $190.00 to $345.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $325.00 to $420.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 1st. Susquehanna reiterated a “positive” rating and issued a $350.00 target price (up from $200.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Finally, Tigress Financial increased their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $245.00 to $430.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty have assigned a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $333.76.

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.