Randolph Co Inc Acquires New Holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Randolph Co Inc acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm acquired 197,106 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $78,312,000. Palo Alto Networks accounts for approximately 6.2% of Randolph Co Inc’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest position.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Guardian Investment Management purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 3rd quarter valued at $796,000. Steinberganna Wealth Management lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Steinberganna Wealth Management now owns 13,037 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $5,180,000 after acquiring an additional 131 shares in the last quarter. Brucke Financial Inc. lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 9.9% during the 3rd quarter. Brucke Financial Inc. now owns 954 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $379,000 after acquiring an additional 86 shares in the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 6.0% during the 3rd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 20,144 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $8,003,000 after acquiring an additional 1,133 shares during the period. Finally, BG Investment Services LLC purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the 3rd quarter valued at about $6,750,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

NASDAQ:PANW opened at $380.55 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $311.29 billion, a PE ratio of 746.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 10.95 and a beta of 0.93. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $369.33 and a 200 day moving average price of $308.82. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12-month low of $139.57 and a 12-month high of $432.33. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, September 1st. The network technology company reported $1.02 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 firm had revenue of $3.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.35 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.95 EPS. Palo Alto Networks’s revenue for the quarter 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. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $373.68, for a total transaction of $336,312.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 72,484 shares in the company, valued at approximately $27,085,821.12. This represents a 1.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Aparna Bawa sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the director directly owned 5,437 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,031,317.57. This trade represents a 15.54% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 54,210 shares of company stock worth $20,823,029. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Robert W. Baird set a $420.00 target price on Palo Alto Networks and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 2nd. BTIG Research increased their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $404.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 28th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 8th. Stephens set a $400.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 2nd. Finally, Truist Financial set a $400.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Thirty-nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $398.55.

Palo Alto Networks 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.