Captrust Financial Advisors Reduces Holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Captrust Financial Advisors trimmed its stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 1.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 693,266 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 9,595 shares during the period. Captrust Financial Advisors’ holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $127,700,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of PANW. Harold Davidson & Associates Inc. grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 5.0% during the 3rd quarter. Harold Davidson & Associates Inc. now owns 1,056 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $215,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Princeton Capital Management LLC grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter. Princeton Capital Management LLC now owns 1,520 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $310,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. South Plains Financial Inc. grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. South Plains Financial Inc. now owns 4,823 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $982,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Fayez Sarofim & Co grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Fayez Sarofim & Co now owns 4,310 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $878,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Certified Advisory Corp grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Certified Advisory Corp now owns 16,938 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $3,449,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 1.6%

PANW stock opened at $279.90 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 0.86. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a one year low of $139.57 and a one year high of $302.95. The company has a fifty day moving average of $221.20 and a 200-day moving average of $190.62. The stock has a market capitalization of $228.12 billion, a PE ratio of 229.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 10.57 and a beta of 0.94.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, June 2nd. The network technology company reported $0.85 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.06. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 7.95% and a return on equity of 10.53%. The firm had revenue of $3 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.94 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.37 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 31.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Palo Alto Networks has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.770-3.790 EPS and its Q4 2026 guidance at 0.960-0.980 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.03 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, Director John P. Key sold 7,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $279.24, for a total value of $2,094,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 12,500 shares in the company, valued at $3,490,500. This trade represents a 37.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Aparna Bawa sold 536 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.00, for a total transaction of $150,080.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 7,704 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,157,120. This trade represents a 6.50% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 101,044 shares of company stock valued at $26,022,722. 1.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PANW has been the topic of several research reports. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $255.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. FBN Securities reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $330.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Arete Research raised shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “sell” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $185.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Susquehanna reissued a “positive” rating and set a $350.00 price objective (up from $200.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Finally, Loop Capital raised their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $160.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-eight have assigned a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $306.59.

About Palo Alto Networks

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ: PANW) is a cybersecurity company founded in 2005 and headquartered in Santa Clara, California. The firm develops a broad suite of security products and services designed to prevent successful cyberattacks and protect enterprise networks, clouds, and endpoints. Built around a platform strategy, its offerings target threat prevention, detection, response and governance across hybrid and multi-cloud environments.

The company’s product portfolio includes next‑generation firewalls as a core on‑premises capability, alongside cloud‑delivered security services and software for securing public and private clouds.