Main Street Research LLC Sells 21,217 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Main Street Research LLC decreased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 61.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 13,235 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 21,217 shares during the period. Main Street Research LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $2,438,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 3rd quarter worth $75,412,000. American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 134.1% in the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 672,129 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $136,859,000 after acquiring an additional 384,985 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 0.6% in the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 1,364,442 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $277,828,000 after acquiring an additional 8,344 shares during the period. Generali Investments Management Co LLC grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 38.4% in the third quarter. Generali Investments Management Co LLC now owns 54,401 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $11,077,000 after acquiring an additional 15,091 shares during the period. Finally, Oak Thistle LLC bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the fourth quarter worth $1,554,000. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Key Stories Impacting Palo Alto Networks

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

• Positive Sentiment: Wells Fargo raised its price target on PANW to $285 from $235 and kept an overweight rating, signaling further upside potential for the cybersecurity leader.
• Positive Sentiment: Truist also boosted its price target ahead of results, reinforcing Wall Street’s improving view of Palo Alto Networks’ earnings and growth outlook. Palo Alto Networks (PANW) Gets Major Price Target Boost from Truist Ahead of Q1 Results
• Positive Sentiment: Jefferies said customers at the company’s Ignite On Tour event showed strong interest in PANW’s AI security offerings, with acquisitions Portkey and Koi Security attracting attention and little resistance to recent firewall price increases.
• Positive Sentiment: Investor commentary continued to highlight cybersecurity as a durable budget priority, with Palo Alto Networks added to Josh Brown’s “best stocks” list alongside other leading security names.
• Neutral Sentiment: One article framed PANW’s strong year-to-date outperformance versus Palantir as a possible rebalancing candidate, but the piece was more about relative performance than a new company-specific catalyst. Palo Alto Networks Is Beating Palantir by 60% This Year. Is a Rebalancing Imminent?
• Neutral Sentiment: Company insider selling by CAO Josh D. Paul was disclosed, though the 400-share sale was relatively small versus his remaining holdings and does not by itself signal a major shift in fundamentals.
• Neutral Sentiment: Recent commentary also pointed to rising AI security demand for products like Prisma AIRS and XSIAM, supporting the long-term growth narrative rather than changing near-term results.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently commented on PANW. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 20th. Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $220.00 price objective (up from $200.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Monday, May 11th. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $220.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 15th. BTIG Research lifted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $240.00 to $220.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-five have issued a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $226.33.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, Director James J. Goetz sold 22,684 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $164.41, for a total transaction of $3,729,476.44. Following the sale, the director owned 52,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,631,525. This trade represents a 30.17% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.42, for a total value of $802,100.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 150,250 shares in the company, valued at $24,103,105. This trade represents a 3.22% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 30,756 shares of company stock worth $5,076,355 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

NASDAQ PANW opened at $260.58 on Monday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a twelve month low of $139.57 and a twelve month high of $261.41. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $183.29 and a 200-day moving average price of $182.06. The firm has a market cap of $212.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 143.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 9.39 and a beta of 0.77.

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.