Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW Stock Sold by Community Trust & Investment Co.

Community Trust & Investment Co. reduced its position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 19.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 92,964 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 21,863 shares during the quarter. Palo Alto Networks comprises about 1.8% of Community Trust & Investment Co.’s portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest position. Community Trust & Investment Co.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $36,936,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in PANW. Solstein Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter valued at $26,000. N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $27,000. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter valued at $28,000. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 125.0% in the second quarter. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 81 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Private Wealth Management Group LLC boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 148.1% during the 1st quarter. Private Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 201 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PANW has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded Palo Alto Networks from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $253.00 to $351.00 in a research note on Thursday, September 17th. Capital One Financial increased their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $421.00 to $428.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 2nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $430.00 target price (up from $350.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, September 2nd. BNP Paribas Exane lifted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $380.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $326.00 to $384.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 25th. Thirty-nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $393.02.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

NASDAQ:PANW opened at $370.27 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $302.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 726.03, a PEG ratio of 10.79 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.87. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $373.10 and a 200-day simple moving average of $300.73. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1 year low of $139.57 and a 1 year high of $432.33.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, September 1st. The network technology company reported $1.02 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98 by $0.04. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 2.67% and a return on equity of 8.50%. The company had revenue of $3.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.35 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.95 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 34.5% on a year-over-year basis. Palo Alto Networks has set its FY 2027 guidance at 4.160-4.190 EPS and its Q1 2027 guidance at 0.960-0.980 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.31 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 27,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $391.60, for a total transaction of $10,769,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 117,750 shares in the company, valued at $46,110,900. The trade was a 18.93% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Aparna Bawa sold 250 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $412.28, for a total value of $103,070.00. Following the sale, the director owned 4,427 shares in the company, valued at $1,825,163.56. The trade was a 5.35% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 54,210 shares of company stock valued at $20,823,029 over the last quarter. 1.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About Palo Alto Networks

Palo Alto Networks, Inc is a cybersecurity company that provides solutions designed to help organizations protect networks, endpoints, cloud environments, applications and users from cyber threats. Its offerings include next-generation firewalls, cloud-delivered security services, secure access service edge (SASE) solutions, endpoint protection and security operations tools.

The company also provides platforms and services for cloud security, threat intelligence, incident response, vulnerability management and the automation of security operations.