Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW Shares Sold by Avity Investment Management Inc.

Avity Investment Management Inc. lessened its position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 10.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 173,721 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 20,869 shares during the period. Palo Alto Networks makes up about 4.2% of Avity Investment Management Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest holding. Avity Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $69,021,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of PANW. Bullock Wealth Management Group boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.3% during the third quarter. Bullock Wealth Management Group now owns 4,296 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,702,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. Riversedge Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. Riversedge Advisors LLC now owns 1,285 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $511,000 after buying an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. Wedmont Private Capital increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 13.2% in the 3rd quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 11,130 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $4,435,000 after buying an additional 1,297 shares in the last quarter. Intelligence Driven Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the 3rd quarter worth $287,000. Finally, Journey Retirement Planning & Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the 3rd quarter worth $383,000. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 27,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $391.60, for a total transaction of $10,769,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 117,750 shares in the company, valued at approximately $46,110,900. This represents a 18.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Aparna Bawa sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $373.61, for a total transaction of $373,610.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 5,437 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,031,317.57. This trade represents a 15.54% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 53,960 shares of company stock worth $20,719,959. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 5.1%

Shares of PANW stock traded up $20.28 on Friday, hitting $418.78. 3,833,698 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,246,200. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. The firm has a market capitalization of $342.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 821.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 11.67 and a beta of 0.93. The business has a 50-day moving average of $369.15 and a 200 day moving average of $292.37. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $139.57 and a fifty-two week high of $432.33.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PANW has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. BNP Paribas Exane boosted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $380.00 to $400.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 2nd. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $415.00 price objective (up from $335.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, August 20th. Argus reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $425.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Thursday, September 3rd. Citigroup cut Palo Alto Networks from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, September 7th. Finally, Truist Financial set a $400.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Thirty-eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $391.32.

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.