Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW Shares Sold by Liontrust Investment Partners LLP

Liontrust Investment Partners LLP lessened its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 8.6% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 317,449 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 29,767 shares during the period. Liontrust Investment Partners LLP’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $50,893,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Darwin Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the second quarter worth $25,000. Knuff & Co LLC acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Steph & Co. raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 88.2% in the 4th quarter. Steph & Co. now owns 143 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. Sittner & Nelson LLC raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 73.8% in the 4th quarter. Sittner & Nelson LLC now owns 146 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 62 shares during the last quarter. Finally, WHI TRUST Co LLC acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 3.7%

Shares of PANW opened at $325.68 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $265.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 266.95, a PEG ratio of 11.66 and a beta of 0.91. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52 week low of $139.57 and a 52 week high of $368.80. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $306.57 and its 200-day moving average price is $221.46. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, June 2nd. The network technology company reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.06. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 10.53% and a net margin of 7.95%.The company had revenue of $3 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.94 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.37 earnings per share. Palo Alto Networks’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. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.03 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director James J. Goetz sold 20,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 12th. The shares were 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 directly owned 20,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,598,000. The trade was a 50.00% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $289.56, for a total transaction of $1,447,800.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 145,250 shares in the company, valued at $42,058,590. This trade represents a 3.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 101,239 shares of company stock worth $27,174,360. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PANW has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Truist Financial boosted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $275.00 to $375.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $209.00 to $253.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Oppenheimer upped their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $275.00 to $350.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Thursday, June 4th. Finally, FBN Securities reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, July 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty have given a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $331.48.

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.