Keudell Morrison Wealth Management Takes $451,000 Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Keudell Morrison Wealth Management purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 2,451 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $451,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PANW. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $75,412,000. American Century Companies Inc. increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 134.1% in the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 672,129 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $136,859,000 after purchasing an additional 384,985 shares during the last quarter. US Bancorp DE raised its position in Palo Alto Networks by 0.6% in the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 1,364,442 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $277,828,000 after purchasing an additional 8,344 shares during the period. Generali Investments Management Co LLC raised its position in Palo Alto Networks by 38.4% in the third quarter. Generali Investments Management Co LLC now owns 54,401 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $11,077,000 after purchasing an additional 15,091 shares during the period. Finally, Oak Thistle LLC acquired a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the fourth quarter worth $1,554,000. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 3.0%

Shares of NASDAQ PANW opened at $260.58 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $212.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 143.97, a PEG ratio of 9.12 and a beta of 0.77. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $183.29 and its 200-day simple moving average is $182.32. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12-month low of $139.57 and a 12-month high of $261.41.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 18th. The network technology company reported $1.03 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.94 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $2.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.58 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 17.60% and a net margin of 12.96%.Palo Alto Networks’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.81 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Palo Alto Networks News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Palo Alto Networks this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Wells Fargo raised its price target on PANW to $285 from $235 and kept an overweight rating, signaling further upside potential for the cybersecurity leader.
• Positive Sentiment: Truist also boosted its price target ahead of results, reinforcing Wall Street’s improving view of Palo Alto Networks’ earnings and growth outlook. Palo Alto Networks (PANW) Gets Major Price Target Boost from Truist Ahead of Q1 Results
• Positive Sentiment: Jefferies said customers at the company’s Ignite On Tour event showed strong interest in PANW’s AI security offerings, with acquisitions Portkey and Koi Security attracting attention and little resistance to recent firewall price increases.
• Positive Sentiment: Investor commentary continued to highlight cybersecurity as a durable budget priority, with Palo Alto Networks added to Josh Brown’s “best stocks” list alongside other leading security names.
• Neutral Sentiment: One article framed PANW’s strong year-to-date outperformance versus Palantir as a possible rebalancing candidate, but the piece was more about relative performance than a new company-specific catalyst. Palo Alto Networks Is Beating Palantir by 60% This Year. Is a Rebalancing Imminent?
• Neutral Sentiment: Company insider selling by CAO Josh D. Paul was disclosed, though the 400-share sale was relatively small versus his remaining holdings and does not by itself signal a major shift in fundamentals.
• Neutral Sentiment: Recent commentary also pointed to rising AI security demand for products like Prisma AIRS and XSIAM, supporting the long-term growth narrative rather than changing near-term results.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PANW has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Capital One Financial raised their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $168.00 to $248.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday. BTIG Research increased their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Citigroup restated a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 target price (down from $235.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, February 19th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $235.00 to $285.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $225.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-five have given a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $226.33.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 1,100 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $161.40, for a total transaction of $177,540.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 83,136 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,418,150.40. The trade was a 1.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora bought 68,085 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 27th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $146.87 per share, for a total transaction of $9,999,643.95. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer owned 343,394 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $50,434,276.78. This represents a 24.73% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 30,756 shares of company stock valued at $5,076,355. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.