Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW Stock: Postrock Partners LLC Cuts Position

Postrock Partners LLC lessened its position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 82.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,170 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 5,623 shares during the period. Postrock Partners LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $465,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the second quarter worth about $25,833,462,000. Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the second quarter worth about $1,968,304,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter valued at about $1,569,755,000. Deutsche Bank AG acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter valued at about $1,481,236,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 16.0% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 22,476,753 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $3,603,473,000 after purchasing an additional 3,101,267 shares during the period. 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 several recent analyst reports. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $425.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Tuesday, September 8th. BTIG Research raised their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $404.00 to $425.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 28th. BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $415.00 price target (up from $335.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, August 20th. TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating and issued a $440.00 price target (up from $400.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Friday, October 2nd. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $420.00 price objective on Palo Alto Networks and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Thirty-nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $398.55.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 9.6%

Shares of PANW opened at $314.67 on Friday. 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’s 50-day moving average is $371.68 and its two-hundred day moving average is $272.93. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a twelve month low of $139.57 and a twelve month high of $432.33. The firm has a market capitalization of $257.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 617.01, a PEG ratio of 9.98 and a beta of 0.96.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued 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 company had revenue of $3.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.35 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.95 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 34.5% compared to the same quarter last year. 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. On average, research analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 400 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $395.70, for a total transaction of $158,280.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 77,987 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $30,859,455.90. The trade was a 0.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director James J. Goetz sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 54,210 shares of company stock worth $20,823,029. 1.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About Palo Alto Networks

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.