OneAscent Financial Services LLC Invests $2.74 Million in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

OneAscent Financial Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor acquired 8,031 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,739,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PANW. N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC acquired a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter valued at about $27,000. Comprehensive Financial Planning Inc. PA acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter worth about $36,000. Kilter Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the second quarter worth about $39,000. Allied Private Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the second quarter worth about $38,000. Finally, Darwin Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Key Palo Alto Networks News

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

• Positive Sentiment: AI security initiative expands growth opportunities. Palo Alto Networks launched the Frontier AI Critical Defense Program with technology partners to protect critical infrastructure from AI-driven exploits and vulnerabilities. The initiative could strengthen PANW’s position in the emerging AI-security market and support demand from government and enterprise customers. Palo Alto Networks Introduces Frontier AI Critical Defense Program
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst remains bullish. Cantor Fitzgerald raised its price target to $425 from $340 and maintained an “overweight” rating, citing potential for continued appreciation. The higher target signals confidence in PANW’s growth prospects despite recent volatility. Palo Alto Networks Price Target Raised by Cantor Fitzgerald
• Positive Sentiment: Enterprise AI adoption may drive sales. Palo Alto Networks is positioning its network, identity, AI and security-operations products to benefit as businesses deploy more artificial intelligence. This could help PANW compete more effectively with CrowdStrike and Zscaler. Can Strong Enterprise AI Adoption Help PANW Challenge CrowdStrike and Zscaler?
• Neutral Sentiment: Recent coverage from TD Cowen and other outlets remains constructive on PANW’s long-term appreciation potential, but provides limited new operating information. TD Cowen Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Palo Alto Networks
• Negative Sentiment: Cybersecurity-sector selling is weighing on PANW. Palo Alto Networks declined even as the broader market improved, while CrowdStrike also sold off sharply. The synchronized weakness suggests investors are reducing exposure to cybersecurity stocks or taking profits, overshadowing bullish analyst commentary. CrowdStrike and Palo Alto Networks Stock Declines

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PANW has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Benchmark upped their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $270.00 to $340.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Truist Financial set a $435.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Jefferies Financial Group set a $335.00 price target on Palo Alto Networks and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. TD Cowen increased their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $360.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, Needham & Company LLC raised their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $350.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty have issued a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $362.67.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

PANW opened at $349.56 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $335.81 and its 200 day simple moving average is $240.90. 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, Inc. has a 1 year low of $139.57 and a 1 year high of $398.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $284.89 billion, a PE ratio of 286.52, a P/E/G ratio of 12.08 and a beta of 0.91.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, June 2nd. The network technology company reported $0.85 EPS 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 firm had revenue of $3 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.94 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $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, sell-side analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.02 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other 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 transaction 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Helle Thorning-Schmidt sold 700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 owned 5,898 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,045,721.30. The trade was a 10.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 37,935 shares of company stock worth $10,809,461 over the last 90 days. Company 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.