BankPlus Trust Department Has $1.71 Million Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

BankPlus Trust Department boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 22.8% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 8,351 shares of the network technology company’s stock after buying an additional 1,549 shares during the period. BankPlus Trust Department’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $1,709,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. HWG Holdings LP bought a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the first quarter valued at $31,000. Dagco Inc. bought a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the first quarter valued at $33,000. WPG Advisers LLC bought a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the first quarter valued at $37,000. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 58.9% during the first quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL now owns 224 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 83 shares during the period. Finally, Stonebridge Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 46.8% during the first quarter. Stonebridge Financial Group LLC now owns 232 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 74 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $210.00 to $216.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 2nd. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $225.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Monday, September 15th. Piper Sandler upgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $200.00 to $225.00 in a research report on Tuesday, August 12th. Bank of America upgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $215.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, August 19th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reduced their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $235.00 to $215.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 14th. Twenty-eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $214.95.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of PANW opened at $211.04 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $190.70 and a 200 day simple moving average of $188.60. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52-week low of $144.15 and a 52-week high of $214.02. The firm has a market capitalization of $141.16 billion, a PE ratio of 131.49, a P/E/G ratio of 5.06 and a beta of 0.98.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released 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 firm 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 posted $0.75 EPS. The business’s 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. Equities research analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.16, for a total value of $141,512.00. Following the completion of the sale, 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 846,408 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $204.06, for a total value of $172,718,016.48. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 275,013 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $56,119,152.78. The trade was a 75.48% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 1,315,130 shares of company stock worth $260,687,367. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.