World Investment Advisors Increases Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

World Investment Advisors grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 4.7% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 21,164 shares of the network technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 950 shares during the quarter. World Investment Advisors’ holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $4,331,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2.5% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 62,775,544 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $10,712,019,000 after acquiring an additional 1,541,637 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 41.9% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 7,235,406 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,234,650,000 after purchasing an additional 2,134,735 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 16.0% in the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 6,902,048 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,177,765,000 after purchasing an additional 950,765 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 1st quarter worth $810,047,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 5.2% in the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,422,037 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $754,576,000 after purchasing an additional 219,111 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 1.9%

Shares of PANW opened at $217.16 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $145.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 135.30, a PEG ratio of 5.26 and a beta of 0.98. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52 week low of $144.15 and a 52 week high of $223.61. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $203.12 and its 200-day moving average price is $193.64.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 18th. The network technology company reported $0.95 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $2.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.50 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 17.66% and a net margin of 12.30%.Palo Alto Networks’s quarterly revenue was up 15.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.75 earnings per share. Palo Alto Networks has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.750-3.850 EPS. Q1 2026 guidance at 0.880-0.900 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 100,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.80, for a total transaction of $17,280,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 3,143,516 shares in the company, valued at approximately $543,199,564.80. This trade represents a 3.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $202.16, for a total value of $141,512.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 32,474 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,564,943.84. This represents a 2.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 1,315,130 shares of company stock valued at $260,687,367 in the last 90 days. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $223.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Friday, August 15th. Citigroup reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Monday. Bank of America raised their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $215.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 20th. Truist Financial set a $220.00 target price on Palo Alto Networks and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 19th. Finally, Barclays restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $215.00 target price (up previously from $210.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday, August 19th. Thirty equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $218.17.

Palo Alto Networks Profile

Palo Alto Networks, Inc provides cybersecurity solutions worldwide. The company offers firewall appliances and software; and Panorama, a security management solution for the global control of network security platform as a virtual or a physical appliance. It also provides subscription services covering the areas of threat prevention, malware and persistent threat, URL filtering, laptop and mobile device protection, DNS security, Internet of Things security, SaaS security API, and SaaS security inline, as well as threat intelligence, and data loss prevention.