Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC Buys 969 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 24.1% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 4,984 shares of the network technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 969 shares during the period. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $993,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PANW. John G Ullman & Associates Inc. grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 15.3% during the second quarter. John G Ullman & Associates Inc. now owns 2,256 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $462,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Joseph P. Lucia & Associates LLC bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter worth $228,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 12.6% during the 2nd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 21,534 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $4,407,000 after buying an additional 2,412 shares during the period. Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter valued at $321,000. Finally, Woodard & Co. Asset Management Group Inc. ADV lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 3.3% during the 2nd quarter. Woodard & Co. Asset Management Group Inc. ADV now owns 10,314 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $2,111,000 after acquiring an additional 329 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 1.2%

Shares of NASDAQ PANW opened at $214.40 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $143.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 133.58, a PEG ratio of 5.04 and a beta of 0.98. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a one year low of $144.15 and a one year high of $217.94. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $198.45 and a 200 day simple moving average of $191.16.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its earnings results on Monday, August 18th. The network technology company reported $0.95 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $2.54 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.50 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 12.30% and a return on equity of 17.66%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.75 EPS. 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, research analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $204.19, for a total value of $1,020,950.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 96,135 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,629,805.65. The trade was a 4.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 846,408 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $204.06, for a total transaction of $172,718,016.48. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 275,013 shares in the company, valued at $56,119,152.78. The trade was a 75.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 1,315,130 shares of company stock valued at $260,687,367. Insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $217.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 19th. BTIG Research raised Palo Alto Networks from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 13th. Piper Sandler upgraded 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 report on Tuesday, August 12th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $210.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 2nd. Finally, Guggenheim boosted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 19th. Thirty research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $217.22.

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.