IFG Advisors LLC Boosts Stock Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

IFG Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 82.8% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 6,688 shares of the network technology company’s stock after buying an additional 3,029 shares during the period. IFG Advisors LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $1,369,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of PANW. Mutual Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 2.5% during the 2nd quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC now owns 15,450 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $3,141,000 after buying an additional 375 shares during the last quarter. Generali Asset Management SPA SGR raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 48.4% during the 2nd quarter. Generali Asset Management SPA SGR now owns 53,098 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $10,866,000 after acquiring an additional 17,325 shares in the last quarter. Essex LLC bought a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the second quarter worth $223,000. Ritholtz Wealth Management raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 13.0% during the second quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 12,111 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $2,478,000 after purchasing an additional 1,393 shares during the period. Finally, Curated Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter worth about $233,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Bank of America upgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $215.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, August 19th. UBS Group set a $245.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Friday, September 26th. BTIG Research raised shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $210.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 2nd. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $232.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday, August 19th. Twenty-nine 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $216.00.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $211.92, for a total transaction of $25,594,426.08. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 149,190 shares in the company, valued at approximately $31,616,344.80. This trade represents a 44.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, 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 transaction 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. The trade was a 2.11% 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. Company insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

PANW stock opened at $207.56 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $138.84 billion, a PE ratio of 129.32, a P/E/G ratio of 5.07 and a beta of 0.98. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12 month low of $144.15 and a 12 month high of $217.94. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $194.56 and a 200 day simple moving average of $189.68.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its earnings results on Monday, August 18th. The network technology company reported $0.95 earnings per share (EPS) 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.50 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.75 earnings per share. Palo Alto Networks’s revenue for the quarter 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. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share 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.