Connective Capital Management LLC Purchases New Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Connective Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 15,630 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,199,000. Palo Alto Networks accounts for about 3.0% of Connective Capital Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest holding.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Whipplewood Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 6,400.0% during the 2nd quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 130 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 128 shares during the period. Briaud Financial Planning Inc purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter worth $28,000. MTM Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter worth $31,000. Dagco Inc. acquired a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the first quarter worth $33,000. Finally, WPG Advisers LLC purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the first quarter valued at $37,000. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently commented on the stock. 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 note on Tuesday, August 19th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $245.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $230.00 price objective (up from $225.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. BTIG Research reissued a “buy” rating and set a $248.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Monday, November 17th. Finally, Westpark Capital restated a “hold” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. Thirty analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $225.09.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $217.94, for a total value of $26,321,485.56. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 356,409 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $77,675,777.46. This represents a 25.31% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $219.97, for a total transaction of $153,979.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 47,505 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,449,674.85. This represents a 1.45% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders sold 1,215,130 shares of company stock worth $249,031,488. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

PANW stock opened at $186.27 on Wednesday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1 year low of $144.15 and a 1 year high of $223.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $129.83 billion, a PE ratio of 117.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.35 and a beta of 0.95. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $208.12 and a 200-day simple moving average of $197.40.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 19th. The network technology company reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.89 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $2.47 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.46 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 17.05% and a net margin of 11.69%.The firm’s revenue was up 15.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.56 earnings per share. Palo Alto Networks has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.800-3.900 EPS. Q2 2026 guidance at 0.930-0.950 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS 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.