Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW Shares Acquired by CX Institutional

CX Institutional increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 414.3% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 34,543 shares of the network technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 27,826 shares during the quarter. CX Institutional’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $13,724,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter worth $25,833,462,000. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 4.2% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 36,979,497 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $12,610,748,000 after purchasing an additional 1,493,179 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 0.9% during the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 22,681,876 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $7,734,973,000 after purchasing an additional 205,123 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 8.7% during the second quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 8,778,963 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $2,993,802,000 after purchasing an additional 706,003 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 4.4% in the first quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 6,466,118 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,036,648,000 after purchasing an additional 273,103 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently weighed in on PANW shares. FBN Securities reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $434.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 2nd. BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $415.00 price target (up from $335.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Thursday, August 20th. Rosenblatt Securities raised their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $355.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $475.00 target price (up from $420.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Monday, August 17th. Thirty-eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $391.32.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

NASDAQ:PANW traded up $6.99 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $403.24. 4,840,545 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 8,347,358. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a twelve month low of $139.57 and a twelve month high of $409.50. 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 company has a fifty day moving average price of $360.46 and a 200 day moving average price of $283.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $329.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 790.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 11.44 and a beta of 0.93.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, September 1st. The network technology company reported $1.02 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.98 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $3.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.35 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 2.67% and a return on equity of 8.50%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 34.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.95 earnings per share. 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. On average, analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, Director John Key sold 2,500 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Monday, September 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $376.03, for a total transaction of $940,075.00. Following the sale, the director owned 10,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,760,300. The trade was a 20.00% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director James J. Goetz sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $376.68, for a total value of $7,533,600.00. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 54,260 shares of company stock valued at $20,804,474. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by 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.