Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW Stock Position Cut by Washington Trust Advisors Inc.

Washington Trust Advisors Inc. lowered its stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 7.1% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 212,446 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 16,161 shares during the period. Palo Alto Networks comprises 6.0% of Washington Trust Advisors Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 3rd largest position. Washington Trust Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $84,407,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. XXI Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 72.2% in the third quarter. XXI Wealth LLC now owns 5,274 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $2,095,000 after acquiring an additional 2,212 shares during the period. River Street Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the third quarter worth about $201,000. MLP3 LLC boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 2.8% in the third quarter. MLP3 LLC now owns 1,976 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $785,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. Private Wealth Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Private Wealth Partners LLC now owns 11,547 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $4,588,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares during the period. Finally, Patrick M Sweeney & Associates Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 3rd quarter valued at about $201,000. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Palo Alto Networks stock traded up $25.63 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $380.55. The stock had a trading volume of 6,579,266 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,277,336. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $369.33 and its two-hundred day moving average is $307.79. The company has a market capitalization of $311.29 billion, a PE ratio of 746.19, a P/E/G ratio of 10.21 and a beta of 0.93. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52-week low of $139.57 and a 52-week high of $432.33. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, September 1st. The network technology company reported $1.02 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98 by $0.04. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 2.67% and a return on equity of 8.50%. The company had revenue of $3.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.35 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.95 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 34.5% compared to the same quarter last year. 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, research analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.31 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on PANW shares. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $440.00 price target (up from $400.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Friday, October 2nd. Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $253.00 to $351.00 in a report on Thursday, September 17th. HSBC cut their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $201.00 to $190.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus set a $415.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 19th. Finally, Yorkville Ives initiated coverage on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Monday, October 5th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $500.00 price target on the stock. Thirty-nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $398.55.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 27,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $391.60, for a total value of $10,769,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 117,750 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $46,110,900. This represents a 18.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director James Goetz sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $376.68, for a total value of $7,533,600.00. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 54,210 shares of company stock valued at $20,823,029. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

About Palo Alto Networks

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.