Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW Stake Lowered by Sowell Financial Services LLC

Sowell Financial Services LLC lessened its holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 10.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 14,358 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 1,722 shares during the quarter. Sowell Financial Services LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $5,704,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter valued at approximately $25,833,462,000. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 4.2% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 36,979,497 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $12,610,748,000 after purchasing an additional 1,493,179 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 0.9% in the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 22,681,876 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $7,734,973,000 after purchasing an additional 205,123 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 8.7% in the 2nd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 8,778,963 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $2,993,802,000 after buying an additional 706,003 shares during the period. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 4.4% in the 1st quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 6,466,118 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,036,648,000 after buying an additional 273,103 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on PANW shares. Truist Financial set a $400.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, September 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus set a $415.00 price target on Palo Alto Networks and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 19th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $425.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $450.00 price objective (up from $335.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Friday, August 28th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $430.00 price objective (up from $350.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Thirty-nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $398.55.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, Director James Goetz sold 20,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $376.68, for a total value of $7,533,600.00. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Aparna Bawa sold 250 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, October 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $412.28, for a total value of $103,070.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 4,427 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,825,163.56. The trade was a 5.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 54,210 shares of company stock worth $20,823,029. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 1.9%

Shares of Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $340.28 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $278.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 667.23, a PEG ratio of 9.99 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a quick ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12-month low of $139.57 and a 12-month high of $432.33. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $371.03 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $304.63.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, September 1st. The network technology company reported $1.02 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $3.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.35 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 2.67% and a return on equity of 8.50%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 34.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.95 earnings per share. Palo Alto Networks has set its FY 2027 guidance at 4.160-4.190 EPS and its Q1 2027 guidance at 0.960-0.980 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Palo Alto Networks Profile

Palo Alto Networks, Inc (NASDAQ:PANW) is a global cybersecurity company that helps organizations protect networks, cloud environments, endpoints, and digital infrastructure. Its offerings are designed to prevent cyberattacks, identify security risks, monitor activity, and support incident response across enterprise, government, and service-provider environments.

The company’s portfolio includes network security products such as next-generation firewalls and security operations tools; Prisma, its cloud security platform; and Cortex, a suite focused on endpoint protection, threat detection, security analytics, and automated response.