E Fund Management Co. Ltd. Acquires Shares of 51,809 Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

E Fund Management Co. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 51,809 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,668,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of PANW. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the second quarter worth $25,833,462,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 4.1% in 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 purchasing an additional 2,659,100 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2.0% in the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 16.0% in the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 22,476,753 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $3,603,473,000 after purchasing an additional 3,101,267 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,989,257 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $2,934,935,000 after acquiring an additional 540,756 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $289.56, for a total value of $1,447,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 145,250 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $42,058,590. The trade was a 3.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 1,100 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $285.08, for a total value of $313,588.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 81,636 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,272,790.88. This represents a 1.33% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 100,839 shares of company stock valued at $27,079,580 in the last three months. 1.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PANW opened at $359.76 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $293.20 billion, a PE ratio of 294.89, a P/E/G ratio of 12.55 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $334.41 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $239.69. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a twelve month low of $139.57 and a twelve month high of $398.88.

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. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 10.53% and a net margin of 7.95%.The firm had revenue of $3 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.94 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.37 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 31.1% on a year-over-year basis. 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. Equities analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.02 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Northland Securities raised their price target on shares of 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. Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $415.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. Wolfe Research restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $320.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, June 1st. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities boosted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $275.00 to $355.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty have issued a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $360.89.

Key Headlines Impacting Palo Alto Networks

Here are the key news stories impacting Palo Alto Networks this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Cantor Fitzgerald raised its price target for Palo Alto Networks from $340 to $425 and maintained an “overweight” rating, implying substantial potential upside from recent trading levels. Cantor Fitzgerald price-target update
• Positive Sentiment: Palo Alto Networks introduced its Frontier AI Critical Defense Program, a collaboration focused on protecting critical infrastructure from AI-driven vulnerabilities. The initiative could strengthen PANW’s positioning in the growing AI-security market, although its near-term financial impact is unclear. Frontier AI Critical Defense Program announcement
• Neutral Sentiment: TD Cowen reportedly expects strong appreciation for PANW shares, while other brokerage coverage gives the stock a “Moderate Buy” average recommendation. These views support the long-term outlook but did not prevent near-term selling. TD Cowen forecast
• Neutral Sentiment: A lawmaker’s disclosed purchases of several cybersecurity stocks highlight continued investor and policy interest in the sector, but the purchases were not specific to Palo Alto Networks and are unlikely to materially affect PANW’s valuation. Cybersecurity stock purchases
• Negative Sentiment: Cybersecurity shares sold off broadly, with CrowdStrike declining sharply despite a higher Truist price target; Palo Alto Networks also fell during the session. The sector move appears to be the main immediate pressure on PANW. Cybersecurity sector selloff
• Negative Sentiment: Investors may also be taking profits after a substantial rally. With PANW trading at a very elevated earnings multiple, strong growth expectations leave the stock vulnerable when sector sentiment weakens or positive news fails to exceed expectations. Palo Alto Networks trading update

Palo Alto Networks Company 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.