Ritholtz Wealth Management Has $2.79 Million Stock Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Ritholtz Wealth Management boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 43.3% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 17,417 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,261 shares during the period. Ritholtz Wealth Management’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $2,792,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Global Financial Private Client LLC boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 38.6% in the first quarter. Global Financial Private Client LLC now owns 7,925 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,271,000 after acquiring an additional 2,209 shares during the period. Corundum Group Inc. bought a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the first quarter worth $219,000. Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 18.2% during the 1st quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 6,589 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,056,000 after purchasing an additional 1,016 shares during the last quarter. TrueMark Investments LLC bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the 1st quarter valued at $817,000. Finally, Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 21.0% in the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 30,489 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $4,888,000 after purchasing an additional 5,290 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

NASDAQ PANW opened at $304.20 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $247.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 249.34, a PEG ratio of 10.88 and a beta of 0.94. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $241.22 and its 200 day simple moving average is $196.11. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a twelve month low of $139.57 and a twelve month high of $306.24. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, June 2nd. The network technology company reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $3 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.94 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 7.95% and a return on equity of 10.53%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 31.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.37 earnings per share. Palo Alto Networks has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.770-3.790 EPS and its Q4 2026 guidance at 0.960-0.980 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Palo Alto Networks news, Director James J. Goetz sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $279.90, for a total value of $5,598,000.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 20,000 shares in the company, valued at $5,598,000. This represents a 50.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 62,904 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $258.65, for a total value of $16,270,119.60. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 235,983 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $61,037,002.95. This represents a 21.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 106,389 shares of company stock worth $27,570,630 in the last 90 days. 1.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Barclays restated an “overweight” rating and set a $315.00 price objective (up from $220.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $325.00 target price (up from $285.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. HSBC boosted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $114.00 to $207.00 in a research note on Thursday, June 4th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $220.00 to $350.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Finally, Mizuho lifted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $265.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-eight have given a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $306.59.

Palo Alto Networks Company Profile

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ: PANW) is a cybersecurity company founded in 2005 and headquartered in Santa Clara, California. The firm develops a broad suite of security products and services designed to prevent successful cyberattacks and protect enterprise networks, clouds, and endpoints. Built around a platform strategy, its offerings target threat prevention, detection, response and governance across hybrid and multi-cloud environments.

The company’s product portfolio includes next?generation firewalls as a core on?premises capability, alongside cloud?delivered security services and software for securing public and private clouds.