Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW Shares Purchased by Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc.

Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 932.7% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 197,529 shares of the network technology company’s stock after buying an additional 178,401 shares during the period. Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $31,668,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PANW. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 4th quarter worth about $1,415,364,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 4.1% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 67,929,063 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $12,512,533,000 after acquiring an additional 2,659,100 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 11.9% in the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 19,375,486 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $3,568,964,000 after purchasing an additional 2,065,776 shares during the period. Employees Provident Fund Board acquired a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the fourth quarter worth approximately $281,542,000. Finally, Eurizon Capital SGR S.p.A. acquired a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the fourth quarter worth approximately $164,968,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PANW has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $265.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. FBN Securities restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. Argus increased their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $222.00 to $320.00 in a research report on Friday, June 5th. DA Davidson lifted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $190.00 to $345.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $253.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have issued a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $318.65.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director James J. Goetz sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $279.90, for a total value of $5,598,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 20,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,598,000. This trade represents a 50.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director John P. Key sold 7,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $279.24, for a total value of $2,094,300.00. Following the sale, the director owned 12,500 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,490,500. The trade was a 37.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 101,239 shares of company stock valued at $27,174,360 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 3.7%

Shares of Palo Alto Networks stock traded down $12.40 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $325.91. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 4,677,069 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,047,614. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1-year low of $139.57 and a 1-year high of $368.17. The business has a fifty day moving average of $274.08 and a 200 day moving average of $206.64. The company has a market capitalization of $265.62 billion, a PE ratio of 267.14, a P/E/G ratio of 12.10 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04.

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