Van Hulzen Asset Management LLC Invests $7.79 Million in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Van Hulzen Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 22,856 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,794,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 15.0% in the 1st quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 410,401 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $65,796,000 after purchasing an additional 53,485 shares in the last quarter. Aviva PLC boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 5.4% during the fourth quarter. Aviva PLC now owns 568,804 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $104,774,000 after purchasing an additional 29,230 shares in the last quarter. B&D White Capital Company LLC acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the first quarter valued at $353,000. Bridgewater Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter valued at $2,159,000. Finally, Granite Islands Private Wealth LLC increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 43.6% in the first quarter. Granite Islands Private Wealth LLC now owns 15,342 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $2,453,000 after buying an additional 4,659 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, Director Helle Thorning-Schmidt sold 700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $346.85, for a total transaction of $242,795.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 5,898 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,045,721.30. This represents a 10.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Aparna Bawa sold 290 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $348.74, for a total transaction of $101,134.60. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 6,437 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,244,839.38. This represents a 4.31% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 37,935 shares of company stock valued at $10,809,461 in the last quarter. Insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 1.9%

Shares of NASDAQ:PANW opened at $350.90 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $338.70 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $243.49. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12-month low of $139.57 and a 12-month high of $398.88. The firm has a market cap of $285.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 287.62, a PEG ratio of 12.00 and a beta of 0.91.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, June 2nd. The network technology company reported $0.85 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $3 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 company posted $0.37 EPS. 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. On average, research analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.02 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently commented on PANW. Capital One Financial set a $421.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Guggenheim cut shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “neutral” rating to a “reduce” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 27th. Citizens Jmp lifted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $320.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 12th. FBN Securities reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. Finally, Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $400.00 price target (up from $350.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Tuesday, August 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty have given a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $364.00.

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.