SFE Investment Counsel Makes New Investment in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

SFE Investment Counsel bought a new position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 80,533 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $27,463,000. Palo Alto Networks makes up about 3.7% of SFE Investment Counsel’s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest holding.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Bank Hapoalim BM purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $310,000. BIP Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter valued at $3,492,000. Trifecta Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter worth $24,043,000. Next Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter worth $225,000. Finally, Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the second quarter valued at $24,997,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 3.0%

Shares of NASDAQ PANW opened at $384.27 on Friday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $328.02 and a 200 day simple moving average of $235.34. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52 week low of $139.57 and a 52 week high of $398.88. The stock has a market cap of $313.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 314.98, a PEG ratio of 12.89 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 0.86.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.94 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 7.95% and a return on equity of 10.53%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 31.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm 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. On average, research analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Palo Alto Networks news, Director Helle Thorning-Schmidt sold 700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $346.85, for a total transaction of $242,795.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 5,898 shares in the company, valued at $2,045,721.30. This trade represents a 10.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Aparna Bawa sold 290 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $348.74, for a total value of $101,134.60. Following the transaction, the director owned 6,437 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,244,839.38. This trade represents a 4.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 101,239 shares of company stock worth $27,174,360 in the last 90 days. 1.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently weighed in on PANW shares. Truist Financial upped their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $275.00 to $375.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Northland Securities increased their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $190.00 to $302.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Scotiabank reissued a “sector outperform” rating and issued a $320.00 price target (up from $180.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Barclays restated an “overweight” rating and set a $370.00 price target (up from $315.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, Arete Research lifted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $185.00 to $433.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, June 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty have issued a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $339.61.

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.