Hunter Associates Investment Management LLC Purchases Shares of 1,799 Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Hunter Associates Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund acquired 1,799 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $288,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Darwin Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the second quarter valued at $25,000. Steph & Co. raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 88.2% in the fourth quarter. Steph & Co. now owns 143 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 67 shares during the period. Knuff & Co LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Sittner & Nelson LLC grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 73.8% during the 4th quarter. Sittner & Nelson LLC now owns 146 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 62 shares during the period. Finally, Luken Investment Analytics LLC grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 196.2% during the 4th quarter. Luken Investment Analytics LLC now owns 154 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 102 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently weighed in on PANW. Arete Research upped their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $185.00 to $433.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, June 29th. BTIG Research raised their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $333.00 to $380.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 30th. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $345.00 price objective (up from $265.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. BNP Paribas Exane upped their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $330.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, June 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have given a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $316.15.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

PANW stock opened at $348.06 on Monday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12-month low of $139.57 and a 12-month high of $358.10. The business’s 50-day moving average is $258.43 and its 200 day moving average is $201.50. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The stock has a market cap of $283.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 285.30, a PEG ratio of 12.92 and a beta of 0.91.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, June 2nd. The network technology company reported $0.85 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $3 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.94 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 10.53% and a net margin of 7.95%.The business’s revenue was up 31.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.37 earnings per share. 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. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Aparna Bawa sold 290 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $348.74, for a total transaction of $101,134.60. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 6,437 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,244,839.38. This represents a 4.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 900 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $345.00, for a total transaction of $310,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 79,644 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $27,477,180. This trade represents a 1.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 102,111 shares of company stock valued at $27,204,024 in the last three months. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Profile

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.