Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW Stock Position Reduced by RFG Advisory LLC

RFG Advisory LLC reduced its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 37.2% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 7,119 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 4,215 shares during the period. RFG Advisory LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $2,428,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PANW. California State Teachers Retirement System raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 35,252.4% during the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 417,760,413 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $142,464,656,000 after purchasing an additional 416,578,710 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter worth about $25,833,462,000. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,415,364,000. Legal & General Group Plc acquired a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter valued at $1,968,304,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the second quarter valued at about $1,569,755,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 1.0%

Shares of NASDAQ:PANW opened at $338.49 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $275.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 663.72, a PEG ratio of 9.76 and a beta of 0.91. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $349.60 and its 200 day simple moving average is $260.57. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12 month low of $139.57 and a 12 month high of $398.88. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, September 1st. The network technology company reported $1.02 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.98 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $3.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.35 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 8.50% and a net margin of 2.67%.Palo Alto Networks’s revenue for the quarter was up 34.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.95 earnings per share. 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. As a group, research analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PANW has been the subject of several research reports. New Street Research set a $415.00 target price on Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Tuesday, August 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $326.00 to $384.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 25th. Roth Capital reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $300.00 price objective (up from $210.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Argus reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $425.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Thursday, September 3rd. Finally, Berenberg Bank lifted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $290.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Thirty-nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $386.32.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, Director Helle Thorning-Schmidt sold 700 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $346.85, for a total value of $242,795.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 5,898 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,045,721.30. This represents a 10.61% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Aparna Bawa sold 290 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $348.74, for a total transaction of $101,134.60. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 6,437 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,244,839.38. This represents a 4.31% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 9,667 shares of company stock valued at $3,058,443. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Company Profile

Palo Alto Networks, Inc is a cybersecurity company that provides security products and services to businesses, governments and other organizations worldwide. The company helps customers protect networks, cloud environments, endpoints, applications and connected devices from cyber threats.

Its portfolio includes next-generation firewalls and network security technologies, as well as cloud-delivered security solutions such as Prisma Access and Prisma Cloud. Palo Alto Networks also offers Cortex products for endpoint protection, security operations, threat detection and response, and automation.