Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW Stock Sold by VMS Asset Management Limited

VMS Asset Management Limited cut its stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 39.2% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 14,630 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 9,420 shares during the quarter. Palo Alto Networks makes up approximately 2.3% of VMS Asset Management Limited’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 17th biggest position. VMS Asset Management Limited’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $5,813,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in PANW. Solstein Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter worth $26,000. N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the second quarter worth about $27,000. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the second quarter worth about $28,000. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 125.0% in the 2nd quarter. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 81 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. Finally, EMC Capital Management acquired a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter valued at about $34,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

PANW stock opened at $375.04 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.87. The firm has a market capitalization of $306.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 735.39, a P/E/G ratio of 11.43 and a beta of 0.93. The business’s 50-day moving average is $372.88 and its two-hundred day moving average is $299.16. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1 year low of $139.57 and a 1 year high of $432.33.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, September 1st. The network technology company reported $1.02 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98 by $0.04. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 8.50% and a net margin of 2.67%. The business had revenue of $3.41 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.35 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.95 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 34.5% on a year-over-year basis. Palo Alto Networks has set its FY 2027 guidance at 4.160-4.190 EPS and its Q1 2027 guidance at 0.960-0.980 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PANW has been the subject of several analyst reports. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $410.00 price objective (up from $345.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Barclays restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $375.00 target price (up from $370.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, September 2nd. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $390.00 target price (up from $300.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, August 19th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $425.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, September 2nd. Finally, Loop Capital upped their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $290.00 to $350.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, August 21st. Thirty-eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $392.38.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Palo Alto Networks news, Director John Key sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $376.03, for a total transaction of $940,075.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 10,000 shares in the company, valued at $3,760,300. The trade was a 20.00% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 27,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $391.60, for a total transaction of $10,769,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 117,750 shares in the company, valued at approximately $46,110,900. This represents a 18.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 54,210 shares of company stock valued at $20,823,029 over the last ninety days. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Profile

Palo Alto Networks, Inc is a cybersecurity company that provides solutions designed to help organizations protect networks, endpoints, cloud environments, applications and users from cyber threats. Its offerings include next-generation firewalls, cloud-delivered security services, secure access service edge (SASE) solutions, endpoint protection and security operations tools.

The company also provides platforms and services for cloud security, threat intelligence, incident response, vulnerability management and the automation of security operations.