Cercano Management LLC Has $35.61 Million Holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Cercano Management LLC cut its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 18.5% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 174,028 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 39,551 shares during the period. Palo Alto Networks accounts for about 1.0% of Cercano Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 25th largest holding. Cercano Management LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $35,613,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $232.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. KeyCorp lowered Palo Alto Networks from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Thursday. DA Davidson reissued a “buy” rating and set a $215.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday, August 19th. Finally, Tigress Financial assumed coverage on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Friday, September 26th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $245.00 target price on the stock. Twenty-nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $221.52.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 846,408 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $204.06, for a total transaction of $172,718,016.48. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 275,013 shares in the company, valued at approximately $56,119,152.78. This represents a 75.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $219.97, for a total transaction of $153,979.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 47,505 shares in the company, valued at $10,449,674.85. This trade represents a 1.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders sold 1,215,830 shares of company stock valued at $249,160,428. Insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $205.25 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $209.07 and its two-hundred day moving average is $197.13. The firm has a market cap of $140.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 127.88, a P/E/G ratio of 4.88 and a beta of 0.95. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52 week low of $144.15 and a 52 week high of $223.61.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.89 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $2.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.50 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 17.66% and a net margin of 12.30%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.75 earnings per share. 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, equities research analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

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.