Pacer Advisors Inc. Increases Holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 15.0% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 257,555 shares of the network technology company’s stock after buying an additional 33,512 shares during the quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $47,442,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Princeton Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 3.4% in the 3rd quarter. Princeton Capital Management LLC now owns 1,520 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $310,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. South Plains Financial Inc. raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. South Plains Financial Inc. now owns 4,823 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $982,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Fayez Sarofim & Co lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 1.2% in the third quarter. Fayez Sarofim & Co now owns 4,310 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $878,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Certified Advisory Corp boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 0.3% in the third quarter. Certified Advisory Corp now owns 16,938 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $3,449,000 after acquiring an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cooper Financial Group grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Cooper Financial Group now owns 4,227 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $779,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.42, for a total transaction of $802,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 150,250 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,103,105. This trade represents a 3.22% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 62,904 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $258.65, for a total value of $16,270,119.60. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 235,983 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $61,037,002.95. This represents a 21.05% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 101,044 shares of company stock worth $26,022,722. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Guggenheim lowered Palo Alto Networks from a “neutral” rating to a “reduce” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 27th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $340.00 price objective on Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Rosenblatt Securities raised 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. Wedbush lifted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $300.00 to $340.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Finally, Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $345.00 price target (up from $265.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-eight have issued a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $306.59.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

NASDAQ:PANW opened at $287.78 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $228.24 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $192.65. The stock has a market capitalization of $234.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 235.89, a PEG ratio of 10.69 and a beta of 0.94. 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 $302.95.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, June 2nd. The network technology company reported $0.85 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $3 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.94 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 7.95% and a return on equity of 10.53%. The firm’s revenue was up 31.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.37 earnings per share. 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 anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.