Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW Shares Sold by Appleton Partners Inc. MA

Appleton Partners Inc. MA trimmed its stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 2.0% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 38,218 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 789 shares during the quarter. Appleton Partners Inc. MA’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $7,821,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. St. Clair Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 0.3% in the second quarter. St. Clair Advisors LLC now owns 15,800 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $3,233,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Csenge Advisory Group raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2.4% in the first quarter. Csenge Advisory Group now owns 2,271 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $381,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. TFG Advisers LLC raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.1% in the second quarter. TFG Advisers LLC now owns 4,668 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $955,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. GSG Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 0.4% in the first quarter. GSG Advisors LLC now owns 12,450 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $2,154,000 after acquiring an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SYM FINANCIAL Corp increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 1.4% in the first quarter. SYM FINANCIAL Corp now owns 4,047 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $691,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on PANW shares. Jefferies Financial Group set a $235.00 target price on Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday, July 29th. UBS Group set a $245.00 target price on Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Friday, September 26th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $223.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Friday, August 15th. Tigress Financial initiated coverage on Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Friday, September 26th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $245.00 target price for the company. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $232.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday, August 19th. Thirty research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $214.64.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.16, for a total value of $141,512.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 32,474 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,564,943.84. This trade represents a 2.11% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $191.11, for a total value of $23,081,119.14. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 177,954 shares in the company, valued at approximately $34,008,788.94. This trade represents a 40.43% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 1,194,356 shares of company stock worth $235,092,941. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 1.0%

NASDAQ:PANW opened at $207.19 on Monday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $190.20 and its two-hundred day moving average is $188.24. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52 week low of $144.15 and a 52 week high of $212.10. The company has a market cap of $138.59 billion, a PE ratio of 129.09, a P/E/G ratio of 4.93 and a beta of 0.98.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its earnings results on Monday, August 18th. The network technology company reported $0.95 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.89 by $0.06. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 17.66% and a net margin of 12.30%.The company had revenue of $2.54 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.50 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.75 EPS. Palo Alto Networks’s quarterly revenue was up 15.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Palo Alto Networks has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.750-3.850 EPS. Q1 2026 guidance at 0.880-0.900 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Palo Alto Networks

Palo Alto Networks, Inc provides cybersecurity solutions worldwide. The company offers firewall appliances and software; and Panorama, a security management solution for the global control of network security platform as a virtual or a physical appliance. It also provides subscription services covering the areas of threat prevention, malware and persistent threat, URL filtering, laptop and mobile device protection, DNS security, Internet of Things security, SaaS security API, and SaaS security inline, as well as threat intelligence, and data loss prevention.