William Blair Investment Management LLC Invests $38.01 Million in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

William Blair Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 111,465 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $38,012,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of PANW. Darwin Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter worth $25,000. Knuff & Co LLC bought a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Sittner & Nelson LLC lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 73.8% in the fourth quarter. Sittner & Nelson LLC now owns 146 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares during the period. N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC bought a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter worth about $27,000. Finally, Luken Investment Analytics LLC raised its position in Palo Alto Networks by 196.2% in the fourth quarter. Luken Investment Analytics LLC now owns 154 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 102 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, Director Aparna Bawa sold 290 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 in the company, valued at approximately $2,244,839.38. This represents a 4.31% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 900 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $345.00, for a total value of $310,500.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 79,644 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $27,477,180. This represents a 1.12% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 37,935 shares of company stock valued at $10,809,461. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 2.4%

Shares of Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $358.04 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $291.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 293.48, a P/E/G ratio of 12.02 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12-month low of $139.57 and a 12-month high of $398.88. The business’s 50 day moving average is $337.38 and its 200-day moving average is $241.72.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, June 2nd. The network technology company reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 net margin of 7.95% and a return on equity of 10.53%. The firm’s revenue was up 31.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business 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. Equities research analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on the company. Scotiabank restated a “sector outperform” rating and set a $320.00 target price (up from $180.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $400.00 target price (up from $350.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th. Loop Capital lifted their price target 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. Weiss Ratings cut Palo Alto Networks from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Thursday, June 4th. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $360.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty have assigned a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $362.67.

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.