McLaughlin Asset Management Inc. Buys New Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

McLaughlin Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund purchased 12,270 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,260,000. Palo Alto Networks comprises 2.0% of McLaughlin Asset Management Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest position.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in PANW. Harold Davidson & Associates Inc. raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 5.0% in the 3rd quarter. Harold Davidson & Associates Inc. now owns 1,056 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $215,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Princeton Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter. Princeton Capital Management LLC now owns 1,520 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $310,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. South Plains Financial Inc. increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.0% during the third quarter. South Plains Financial Inc. now owns 4,823 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $982,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the period. Fayez Sarofim & Co increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.2% during the third quarter. Fayez Sarofim & Co now owns 4,310 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $878,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the period. Finally, Certified Advisory Corp raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 0.3% in the third quarter. Certified Advisory Corp now owns 16,938 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $3,449,000 after buying an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of PANW opened at $287.78 on Friday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $139.57 and a fifty-two week high of $302.95. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $225.96 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $191.98. The stock has a market cap of $234.54 billion, a PE ratio of 235.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 10.48 and a beta of 0.94. 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 released its earnings results on Tuesday, June 2nd. The network technology company reported $0.85 earnings per share (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 firm had revenue of $3 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.94 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.37 earnings per share. The business’s 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. Analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on PANW. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $345.00 price objective (up from $265.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Scotiabank reissued a “sector outperform” rating and issued a $320.00 target price (up from $180.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $209.00 to $253.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $270.00 to $335.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Finally, Arete Research raised Palo Alto Networks from a “sell” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $185.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 3rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-eight have given a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $306.59.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, Director John P. Key sold 7,500 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Friday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $279.24, for a total transaction of $2,094,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 12,500 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,490,500. The trade was a 37.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director James J. Goetz sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $279.90, for a total value of $5,598,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 20,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,598,000. This represents a 50.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 101,044 shares of company stock valued at $26,022,722 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

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.