Emerald Investment Advisers LLC Takes Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Emerald Investment Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm purchased 38,730 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,208,000. Palo Alto Networks makes up approximately 0.9% of Emerald Investment Advisers LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 17th biggest holding.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Darwin Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter valued at $25,000. Knuff & Co LLC acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 4th quarter worth $26,000. Sittner & Nelson LLC grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 73.8% during the 4th quarter. Sittner & Nelson LLC now owns 146 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares during the period. N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter valued at about $27,000. Finally, Luken Investment Analytics LLC increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 196.2% in the 4th quarter. Luken Investment Analytics LLC now owns 154 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 102 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, Director Helle Thorning-Schmidt sold 700 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $346.85, for a total transaction of $242,795.00. Following the sale, the director owned 5,898 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,045,721.30. This represents a 10.61% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 900 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $345.00, for a total value of $310,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 79,644 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $27,477,180. The trade was a 1.12% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 37,935 shares of company stock worth $10,809,461 in the last quarter. Insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PANW has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Arete Research boosted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $185.00 to $433.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, June 29th. Truist Financial set a $435.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $390.00 price target (up from $300.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday. Stephens raised their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $180.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane lifted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $330.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty have given a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $362.67.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 2.4%

Shares of NASDAQ PANW opened at $358.04 on Friday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12-month low of $139.57 and a 12-month high of $398.88. The company has a market capitalization of $291.80 billion, a PE ratio of 293.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 11.74 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.86. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $337.38 and its two-hundred day moving average is $241.72.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, June 2nd. The network technology company reported $0.85 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.06. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 7.95% and a return on equity of 10.53%. The business had revenue of $3 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.94 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.37 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 31.1% on a year-over-year basis. 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. Equities analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Palo Alto Networks Company 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.