Lawood & Co. Makes New $1.12 Million Investment in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Lawood & Co. bought a new position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 6,097 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,123,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 4.1% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 67,929,063 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $12,512,533,000 after purchasing an additional 2,659,100 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 108.3% during the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,467,692 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $502,263,000 after purchasing an additional 1,282,738 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the third quarter valued at about $162,161,000. Danske Bank A S purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the third quarter valued at approximately $151,682,000. Finally, Amundi grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 25.1% during the 3rd quarter. Amundi now owns 3,532,201 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $750,875,000 after acquiring an additional 708,332 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks News Roundup

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

• Positive Sentiment: Oppenheimer raised its price target on Palo Alto Networks to $275 from $245 and reiterated an Outperform rating, signaling confidence that the stock can keep moving higher. Oppenheimer Hikes Palo Alto Networks Price Target to $275: CyberArk Becomes Idira, Identity Security Just Got Real
• Positive Sentiment: Royal Bank of Canada lifted its target to $255 from $220 and kept an Outperform rating, while Robert W. Baird also boosted its target to $265, reinforcing the bullish analyst tone around PANW. RBC raises price target on Palo Alto Networks to 255 from 220, keeps outperform rating
• Positive Sentiment: Jefferies raised its price target to $265 from $215 and highlighted Palo Alto’s identity-security push after CyberArk’s IMPACT26 conference, arguing that AI-driven threats are forcing more enterprise spending on automated security tools. Jefferies Hikes Palo Alto Networks Price Target to 265: AI Is Compressing Attack Timelines
• Positive Sentiment: Jefferies and other commentary point to Palo Alto’s new “Idira” platform, which could broaden the company’s identity-security offering and create a new growth engine beyond its core cybersecurity business. Palo Alto advances AI-driven identity strategy with Idira launch, shares gain
• Neutral Sentiment: Zacks noted that PANW is drawing unusual investor attention, but the piece was mainly a watchlist-style overview rather than a fresh catalyst. Is Most-Watched Stock Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (PANW) Worth Betting on Now?

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director James J. Goetz sold 22,684 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $164.41, for a total transaction of $3,729,476.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 52,500 shares in the company, valued at $8,631,525. This trade represents a 30.17% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 1,100 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $161.40, for a total transaction of $177,540.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 83,136 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,418,150.40. This trade represents a 1.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 30,356 shares of company stock worth $4,981,575 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on PANW. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $220.00 price target (up from $205.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Needham & Company LLC dropped their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $230.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Scotiabank restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Finally, Berenberg Bank set a $215.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-six have assigned a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $214.98.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $242.83 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $174.81 and a 200 day moving average of $181.27. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1 year low of $139.57 and a 1 year high of $245.80. The firm has a market cap of $198.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 134.16, a PEG ratio of 8.59 and a beta of 0.77.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 18th. The network technology company reported $1.03 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.94 by $0.09. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 17.60% and a net margin of 12.96%.The business had revenue of $2.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.58 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.81 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 14.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.14 EPS 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.