Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW Shares Sold by Howard Capital Management Group LLC

Howard Capital Management Group LLC lowered its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 2.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 209,620 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 5,052 shares during the quarter. Palo Alto Networks makes up approximately 2.4% of Howard Capital Management Group LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 12th biggest holding. Howard Capital Management Group LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $38,612,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of PANW. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 147.7% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,761 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,230,000 after purchasing an additional 4,031 shares during the period. Bison Wealth LLC grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 169.1% in the fourth quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 5,212 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $948,000 after purchasing an additional 3,275 shares during the period. Sivia Capital Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 66.3% in the second quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 3,484 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $713,000 after purchasing an additional 1,389 shares during the period. Edgestream Partners L.P. acquired a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter valued at $3,070,000. Finally, Twin Peaks Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the second quarter worth about $192,000. 79.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Key Stories Impacting Palo Alto Networks

Here are the key news stories impacting Palo Alto Networks this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Company insiders (including the CEO) bought roughly $10 million of PANW stock, a vote of confidence that investors often view as a bullish signal. Insider purchase article
• Positive Sentiment: Jim Cramer highlighted the CEO’s $10M buy on Mad Money, framing it as evidence that AI threats are not undermining Palo Alto’s business — national TV endorsement can lift sentiment and short-term flows. Cramer commentary
• Positive Sentiment: Benchmark initiated coverage with a Buy rating and a $200 price target, citing progress toward Rule-of-60-style profitability — an analyst upgrade that boosts upside expectations. Benchmark initiation
• Positive Sentiment: Zacks noted the stock outperformed the market intraday, reflecting the broader positive sentiment mix. Short-term price strength is consistent with the above catalysts. Zacks upswing note
• Neutral Sentiment: A law firm announced a partner hire in Palo Alto — unrelated to Palo Alto Networks’ business and unlikely to affect the stock. Business Wire hiring notice
• Negative Sentiment: Some coverage points out PANW is down ~12% over the past three months, flagging near-term pressure despite long-term SASE momentum and enterprise wins — a reminder of recent volatility and profit-taking risk. Zacks pullback analysis

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have issued reports on the company. Wolfe Research raised their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, December 15th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Monday, December 29th. Mizuho set a $200.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $209.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $223.00 price target (down from $245.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-five have given a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $209.95.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Palo Alto Networks news, CEO Nikesh Arora bought 68,085 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 27th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $146.87 per share, with a total value of $9,999,643.95. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer owned 343,394 shares in the company, valued at approximately $50,434,276.78. The trade was a 24.73% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director James J. Goetz sold 22,684 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Friday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $164.41, for a total transaction of $3,729,476.44. Following the transaction, the director owned 52,500 shares in the company, valued at $8,631,525. The trade was a 30.17% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 1.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PANW opened at $163.21 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $162.47 and a two-hundred day moving average of $186.38. The firm has a market capitalization of $133.18 billion, a PE ratio of 90.17, a P/E/G ratio of 5.80 and a beta of 0.77. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12 month low of $139.57 and a 12 month high of $223.61.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 18th. The network technology company reported $1.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.94 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $2.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.58 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 17.60% and a net margin of 12.96%.The company’s revenue was up 14.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.81 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

About Palo Alto Networks

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.