Richards Merrill & Peterson Inc. Has $853,000 Holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Richards Merrill & Peterson Inc. grew its position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 30.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 4,166 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 963 shares during the period. Richards Merrill & Peterson Inc.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $853,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the first quarter worth $810,047,000. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC acquired a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter valued at $633,068,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 41.9% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 7,235,406 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,234,650,000 after purchasing an additional 2,134,735 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 77.1% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 3,879,506 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $662,000,000 after acquiring an additional 1,688,432 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2.5% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 62,775,544 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $10,712,019,000 after purchasing an additional 1,541,637 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $202.16, for a total transaction of $141,512.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 32,474 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,564,943.84. This trade represents a 2.11% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the company’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 value of $25,594,426.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 149,190 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $31,616,344.80. This represents a 44.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders 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 Price Performance

Shares of PANW opened at $217.11 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $200.79 and a 200-day moving average of $192.18. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a one year low of $144.15 and a one year high of $218.23. The company has a market cap of $145.22 billion, a PE ratio of 135.27, a P/E/G ratio of 5.11 and a beta of 0.98.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. 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 previous year, the company posted $0.75 earnings per share. The company’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. Analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. DA Davidson reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $215.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday, August 19th. UBS Group set a $245.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Friday, September 26th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $235.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday, July 29th. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $232.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday, August 19th. Finally, Guggenheim raised their target price on 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 investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $217.22.

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.