Lodestar Private Asset Management LLC Cuts Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Lodestar Private Asset Management LLC trimmed its position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 30.7% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 1,708 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 758 shares during the quarter. Lodestar Private Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $350,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 1st quarter worth about $261,000. Strive Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 16.6% during the 1st quarter. Strive Asset Management LLC now owns 2,099 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $358,000 after acquiring an additional 299 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 10.8% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 14,125 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $2,410,000 after acquiring an additional 1,374 shares during the period. Czech National Bank boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 6.4% in the 2nd quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 161,840 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $33,119,000 after acquiring an additional 9,766 shares during the period. Finally, Avity Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 37.9% in the 2nd quarter. Avity Investment Management Inc. now owns 181,691 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $37,181,000 after acquiring an additional 49,971 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 3.1%

Shares of PANW opened at $208.55 on Monday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $192.94 and its two-hundred day moving average is $189.28. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52-week low of $144.15 and a 52-week high of $217.94. The firm has a market cap of $139.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 129.94, a PEG ratio of 4.96 and a beta of 0.98.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its earnings results on Monday, August 18th. The network technology company reported $0.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.89 by $0.06. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 17.66% and a net margin of 12.30%.The company had revenue of $2.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.50 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.75 EPS. Palo Alto Networks’s quarterly revenue was up 15.8% on a year-over-year basis. Palo Alto Networks has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.750-3.850 EPS. Q1 2026 guidance at 0.880-0.900 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on PANW. Scotiabank upped their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $228.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 19th. Barclays restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $215.00 price target (up previously from $210.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday, August 19th. DA Davidson restated a “buy” rating and issued a $215.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday, August 19th. Stephens restated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $205.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday, August 19th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $232.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday, August 19th. Twenty-eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $214.95.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.16, for a total transaction of $141,512.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 32,474 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,564,943.84. This represents a 2.11% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.80, for a total value of $17,280,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 3,143,516 shares in the company, valued at approximately $543,199,564.80. This represents a 3.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 1,315,130 shares of company stock worth $260,687,367. 2.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Profile

Palo Alto Networks, Inc provides cybersecurity solutions worldwide. The company offers firewall appliances and software; and Panorama, a security management solution for the global control of network security platform as a virtual or a physical appliance. It also provides subscription services covering the areas of threat prevention, malware and persistent threat, URL filtering, laptop and mobile device protection, DNS security, Internet of Things security, SaaS security API, and SaaS security inline, as well as threat intelligence, and data loss prevention.