First Pacific Financial Grows Stock Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

First Pacific Financial increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 52.9% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 364 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 126 shares during the quarter. First Pacific Financial’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $74,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. St. Clair Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 0.3% during the second quarter. St. Clair Advisors LLC now owns 15,800 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $3,233,000 after buying an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Csenge Advisory Group boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 2.4% during the first quarter. Csenge Advisory Group now owns 2,271 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $381,000 after buying an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. GSG Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 0.4% during the first quarter. GSG Advisors LLC now owns 12,450 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $2,154,000 after buying an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. SYM FINANCIAL Corp boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 1.4% during the first quarter. SYM FINANCIAL Corp now owns 4,047 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $691,000 after buying an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Investment Advisory Services Inc. TX ADV boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 4.6% during the second quarter. Investment Advisory Services Inc. TX ADV now owns 1,257 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $257,000 after buying an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

PANW opened at $206.80 on Thursday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $144.15 and a fifty-two week high of $210.39. The business has a 50-day moving average of $189.95 and a 200-day moving average of $187.87. The company has a market capitalization of $138.33 billion, a PE ratio of 128.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.85 and a beta of 0.98.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PANW has been the subject of several research reports. Bank of America raised Palo Alto Networks from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $215.00 target price for the company in a research note on Tuesday, August 19th. Guggenheim raised their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 19th. Westpark Capital reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday, August 19th. DA Davidson reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $215.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Tuesday, August 19th. Finally, JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $212.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Tuesday, August 19th. Thirty equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $214.64.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.80, for a total value of $17,280,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 3,143,516 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $543,199,564.80. This trade represents a 3.08% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.58, for a total value of $20,722,402.92. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 206,718 shares in the company, valued at $35,468,674.44. This trade represents a 36.88% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 1,314,430 shares of company stock worth $259,210,094 in the last three months. 2.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Company 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.