Shepherd Street Advisors LLC Makes New Investment in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Shepherd Street Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 6,130 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,129,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,415,364,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 4.1% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 67,929,063 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $12,512,533,000 after acquiring an additional 2,659,100 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 108.3% in the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,467,692 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $502,263,000 after acquiring an additional 1,282,738 shares during the period. Eurizon Capital SGR S.p.A. bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the fourth quarter valued at about $164,968,000. Finally, MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the third quarter valued at about $162,161,000. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Key Stories Impacting Palo Alto Networks

Here are the key news stories impacting Palo Alto Networks this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Palo Alto Networks beat fiscal Q3 earnings and revenue expectations, reporting EPS of $0.85 versus $0.81 expected and revenue of $3.0 billion versus $2.94 billion estimated, with sales up 31.1% year over year. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: The company raised full-year and fourth-quarter guidance well above Wall Street forecasts, signaling stronger demand and better profitability ahead. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Management said AI-driven security needs are boosting customer engagement, with CEO Nikesh Arora citing a surge in meeting requests as enterprises prepare for AI-related risks. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Several analyst notes were bullish ahead of and after the report, including price-target increases from JPMorgan and Baird, reinforcing confidence in the company’s growth outlook. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: The company also completed its acquisition of Portkey, an AI gateway provider, which may support its Prisma AIRS platform and future AI-security offerings, but the immediate financial impact is still unclear. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: One insider sale by the company’s chief accounting officer may create a small headline overhang, though it was limited relative to the stock’s recent rally. Article Title

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of PANW opened at $297.18 on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $195.20 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $184.31. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52-week low of $139.57 and a 52-week high of $302.95. The company has a market cap of $242.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 164.19, a PEG ratio of 10.83 and a beta of 0.94.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, June 2nd. The network technology company reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.06. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 17.60% and a net margin of 12.96%.The firm had revenue of $3 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.94 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.37 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 31.1% compared to the same quarter last year. 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 predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.42, for a total value of $802,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 150,250 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,103,105. The trade was a 3.22% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director James J. Goetz sold 22,684 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Friday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $164.41, for a total value of $3,729,476.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 52,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,631,525. The trade was a 30.17% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 94,760 shares of company stock worth $21,660,063. 1.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PANW has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group set a $300.00 price target on Palo Alto Networks and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $240.00 to $224.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $285.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, May 20th. Barclays reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $220.00 price target (up from $200.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Monday, May 11th. Finally, Scotiabank reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-five have given a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $238.23.

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.