Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW Shares Purchased by Clare Market Investments LLC

Clare Market Investments LLC increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 24.2% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 16,691 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,247 shares during the period. Palo Alto Networks accounts for approximately 0.8% of Clare Market Investments LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 25th largest position. Clare Market Investments LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $3,416,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Capital A Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the fourth quarter worth $29,000. HWG Holdings LP acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the first quarter worth $31,000. Dagco Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the first quarter worth $33,000. SWAN Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 100.0% during the fourth quarter. SWAN Capital LLC now owns 200 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, WPG Advisers LLC acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the first quarter worth $37,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently commented on PANW shares. Westpark Capital reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday, August 19th. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $207.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 19th. KeyCorp downgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Jefferies Financial Group set a $235.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday, July 29th. Finally, UBS Group set a $185.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 12th. Twenty-nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $212.39.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 1st. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $543,199,564.80. This represents a 3.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $191.11, for a total transaction of $23,081,119.14. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 177,954 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $34,008,788.94. This represents a 40.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 568,622 shares of company stock worth $106,468,778 over the last three months. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of PANW opened at $205.68 on Friday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $144.15 and a fifty-two week high of $210.39. The company has a market capitalization of $137.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 128.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.85 and a beta of 0.98. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $188.19 and a 200-day simple moving average of $186.35.

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

About Palo Alto Networks

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.