Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW Shares Sold by Vision Capital Management Inc.

Vision Capital Management Inc. cut its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 9.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 19,210 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 2,029 shares during the quarter. Palo Alto Networks accounts for about 0.8% of Vision Capital Management Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 24th largest holding. Vision Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $7,633,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Solstein Capital LLC bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the second quarter valued at $26,000. N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC bought a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter worth about $27,000. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter valued at about $28,000. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 125.0% in the 2nd quarter. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 81 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 45 shares during the period. Finally, EMC Capital Management bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter valued at about $34,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 27,500 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $391.60, for a total transaction of $10,769,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 117,750 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $46,110,900. The trade was a 18.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director James Goetz sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 have sold 54,210 shares of company stock valued at $20,823,029. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on PANW shares. Capital One Financial increased their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $421.00 to $428.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 2nd. Phillip Securities downgraded Palo Alto Networks from a “moderate buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $320.00 to $346.00 in a research note on Monday, September 7th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $425.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday, September 8th. HSBC lowered their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $201.00 to $190.00 in a report on Thursday, September 3rd. Finally, Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $410.00 price target (up from $345.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, September 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-eight have assigned a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $398.55.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 1.4%

PANW stock opened at $346.95 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $139.57 and a fifty-two week high of $432.33. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $371.90 and its 200 day simple moving average is $303.36. The stock has a market cap of $283.81 billion, a PE ratio of 680.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 9.84 and a beta of 0.93.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, September 1st. The network technology company reported $1.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98 by $0.04. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 2.67% and a return on equity of 8.50%. The firm had revenue of $3.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.35 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.95 EPS. Palo Alto Networks’s 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. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.31 EPS for the current year.

Palo Alto Networks Company Profile

Palo Alto Networks, Inc (NASDAQ:PANW) is a global cybersecurity company that helps organizations protect networks, cloud environments, endpoints, and digital infrastructure. Its offerings are designed to prevent cyberattacks, identify security risks, monitor activity, and support incident response across enterprise, government, and service-provider environments.

The company’s portfolio includes network security products such as next-generation firewalls and security operations tools; Prisma, its cloud security platform; and Cortex, a suite focused on endpoint protection, threat detection, security analytics, and automated response.