Empirical Asset Management LLC Invests $1.81 Million in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Empirical Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm acquired 5,304 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,809,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 15.0% during the 1st 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 during the period. Aviva PLC grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 5.4% in the fourth 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 during the period. B&D White Capital Company LLC acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the first quarter valued at approximately $353,000. Bridgewater Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the second quarter valued at approximately $2,159,000. Finally, Granite Islands Private Wealth LLC increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 43.6% during the first quarter. Granite Islands Private Wealth LLC now owns 15,342 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $2,453,000 after acquiring an additional 4,659 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 0.4%

NASDAQ PANW opened at $374.14 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $304.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 306.67, a PEG ratio of 12.89 and a beta of 0.91. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $332.48 and a 200 day simple moving average of $238.39. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12 month low of $139.57 and a 12 month high of $398.88. 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 posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, June 2nd. The network technology company reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $3 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.94 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 7.95% and a return on equity of 10.53%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 31.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.37 EPS. 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, analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $289.56, for a total value of $1,447,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 145,250 shares in the company, valued at approximately $42,058,590. This trade represents a 3.33% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director James J. Goetz sold 20,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks 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 transaction, the director directly owned 20,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,598,000. This represents a 50.00% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 100,839 shares of company stock worth $27,079,580 in the last ninety days. 1.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Benchmark increased their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $270.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. TD Cowen boosted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $360.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday, June 16th. Guggenheim downgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “neutral” rating to a “reduce” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 27th. Finally, Truist Financial raised their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $275.00 to $375.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty have given a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $351.56.

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.