Simplify Asset Management Inc. Makes New $636,000 Investment in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Simplify Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 3,967 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $636,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 15.0% in the first quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 410,401 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $65,796,000 after buying an additional 53,485 shares in the last quarter. Aviva PLC boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 5.4% during the 4th quarter. Aviva PLC now owns 568,804 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $104,774,000 after acquiring an additional 29,230 shares in the last quarter. Granite Islands Private Wealth LLC grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 43.6% during the 1st quarter. Granite Islands Private Wealth LLC now owns 15,342 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $2,453,000 after acquiring an additional 4,659 shares during the period. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 8.8% during the 4th quarter. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp now owns 48,458 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $8,926,000 after acquiring an additional 3,926 shares during the period. Finally, Oak Thistle LLC bought a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,554,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 1,100 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $285.08, for a total transaction of $313,588.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 81,636 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,272,790.88. This trade represents a 1.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director James J. Goetz sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $279.90, for a total transaction of $5,598,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 20,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,598,000. The trade was a 50.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders sold 102,111 shares of company stock valued at $27,204,024. 1.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

NASDAQ PANW opened at $348.06 on Friday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12 month low of $139.57 and a 12 month high of $358.10. The stock has a market cap of $283.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 285.30, a P/E/G ratio of 12.92 and a beta of 0.91. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $258.43 and its 200-day moving average price is $201.39. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its quarterly 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 firm had revenue of $3 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.94 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 10.53% and a net margin of 7.95%.The company’s revenue was up 31.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company 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. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $253.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Guggenheim downgraded Palo Alto Networks from a “neutral” rating to a “reduce” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 27th. Loop Capital raised their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $160.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. BTIG Research boosted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $333.00 to $380.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald set a $340.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have given a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $316.15.

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.