QRG Capital Management Inc. Grows Stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

QRG Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 16.1% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 85,840 shares of the network technology company’s stock after buying an additional 11,888 shares during the period. QRG Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $13,762,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 4.1% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 67,929,063 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $12,512,533,000 after buying an additional 2,659,100 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 30,331,705 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $5,587,100,000 after acquiring an additional 594,789 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 11.9% during the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 19,375,486 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $3,568,964,000 after acquiring an additional 2,065,776 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,989,257 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $2,934,935,000 after acquiring an additional 540,756 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the fourth quarter worth about $1,415,364,000. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 900 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $345.00, for a total transaction of $310,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 79,644 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $27,477,180. This trade represents a 1.12% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director James J. Goetz sold 20,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the director owned 20,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,598,000. The trade was a 50.00% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders sold 102,111 shares of company stock worth $27,204,024. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PANW has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Northland Securities upped their price objective 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. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $220.00 to $350.00 and gave the company a “buy” 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 note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Benchmark increased their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $270.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $320.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have issued a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $316.15.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PANW opened at $348.06 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $283.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 285.30, a P/E/G ratio of 12.92 and a beta of 0.91. 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, Inc. has a 1-year low of $139.57 and a 1-year high of $358.10. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $258.43 and its 200 day moving average is $201.39.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, June 2nd. The network technology company reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $3 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.94 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 10.53% and a net margin of 7.95%.Palo Alto Networks’s quarterly revenue was up 31.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $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, sell-side analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.