National Pension Service Increases Stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

National Pension Service grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 19.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,686,962 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 270,233 shares during the period. National Pension Service owned about 0.25% of Palo Alto Networks worth $345,220,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in PANW. Whipplewood Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 6,400.0% during the second quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 130 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 128 shares in the last quarter. Briaud Financial Planning Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter worth about $28,000. Dagco Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 1st quarter worth about $33,000. Marshall & Sullivan Inc. WA acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter valued at about $41,000. Finally, Spurstone Advisory Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter valued at about $41,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Palo Alto Networks news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 846,408 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $56,119,152.78. The trade was a 75.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $219.97, for a total value of $153,979.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 47,505 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,449,674.85. The trade was a 1.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 1,215,830 shares of company stock worth $249,160,428. 2.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PANW has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Barclays increased their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $215.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $230.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Tigress Financial initiated coverage on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Friday, September 26th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $245.00 price target for the company. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $223.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Friday, August 15th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday. Thirty investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $218.67.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 0.8%

Shares of NASDAQ PANW opened at $218.27 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $149.29 billion, a PE ratio of 135.99, a P/E/G ratio of 5.15 and a beta of 0.95. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12-month low of $144.15 and a 12-month high of $223.61. The company has a 50-day moving average of $208.24 and a 200 day moving average of $196.75.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its 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. The business had revenue of $2.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.50 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 12.30% and a return on equity of 17.66%. The business’s revenue was up 15.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $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, sell-side analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.