KBC Group NV Sells 6,185 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

KBC Group NV cut its holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 3.0% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 202,660 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 6,185 shares during the period. KBC Group NV’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $32,490,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the fourth quarter worth about $1,415,364,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 4.1% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 67,929,063 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $12,512,533,000 after purchasing an additional 2,659,100 shares during the period. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 1,665.1% during the 1st quarter. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. now owns 2,761,909 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $442,788,000 after purchasing an additional 2,605,433 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 11.9% in the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 19,375,486 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $3,568,964,000 after purchasing an additional 2,065,776 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Employees Provident Fund Board purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the 4th quarter worth approximately $281,542,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

NASDAQ:PANW opened at $348.66 on Tuesday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a one year low of $139.57 and a one year high of $368.80. The stock has a market cap of $284.16 billion, a PE ratio of 285.79, a P/E/G ratio of 13.32 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 0.86. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $292.74 and a 200 day moving average price of $213.62.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, June 2nd. The network technology company reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.06. The company 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 firm’s quarterly revenue was up 31.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.37 EPS. 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. Equities research analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Helle Thorning-Schmidt sold 700 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $346.85, for a total value of $242,795.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 5,898 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,045,721.30. This represents a 10.61% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Aparna Bawa sold 290 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $348.74, for a total value of $101,134.60. Following 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 SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 101,239 shares of company stock worth $27,174,360. 1.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently issued reports on PANW. Arete Research lifted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $185.00 to $433.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, June 29th. Evercore restated an “outperform” rating and set a $415.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $209.00 to $253.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Loop Capital lifted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $160.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Finally, HSBC boosted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $114.00 to $207.00 in a research note on Thursday, June 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty have given a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $327.74.

Palo Alto Networks Company 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.