Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW Shares Sold by Americana Partners LLC

Americana Partners LLC cut its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 14.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 43,189 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 7,389 shares during the period. Americana Partners LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $7,955,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of PANW. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the third quarter valued at $75,412,000. American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 134.1% in the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 672,129 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $136,859,000 after acquiring an additional 384,985 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 1,364,442 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $277,828,000 after buying an additional 8,344 shares during the period. Generali Investments Management Co LLC grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 38.4% during the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Oak Thistle LLC acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,554,000. 79.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of PANW stock opened at $260.58 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $212.63 billion, a PE ratio of 143.97, a PEG ratio of 9.12 and a beta of 0.77. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a one year low of $139.57 and a one year high of $261.41. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $183.29 and its 200 day simple moving average is $182.32.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 18th. The network technology company reported $1.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.94 by $0.09. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 17.60% and a net margin of 12.96%.The firm had revenue of $2.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.58 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.81 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Palo Alto Networks News Summary

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.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Nikesh Arora bought 68,085 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 27th. The stock was bought at an average price of $146.87 per share, for a total transaction of $9,999,643.95. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 343,394 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $50,434,276.78. This represents a 24.73% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director John P. Key sold 1,572 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $173.32, for a total value of $272,459.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 20,000 shares in the company, valued at $3,466,400. This trade represents a 7.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 30,756 shares of company stock worth $5,076,355 over the last quarter. Insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently commented on PANW. Daiwa Securities Group dropped their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $212.00 to $175.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 24th. TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Citizens Jmp reiterated a “market outperform” rating and set a $250.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, DA Davidson set a $190.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks and gave the stock a “buy” rating 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $226.33.

Palo Alto Networks Company 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.