Kovack Advisors Inc. Acquires 7,353 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Kovack Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 14.4% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 58,398 shares of the network technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,353 shares during the quarter. Palo Alto Networks accounts for approximately 0.5% of Kovack Advisors Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 29th largest holding. Kovack Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $10,757,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 4.1% in 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 acquiring an additional 2,659,100 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.7% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 29,736,916 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $6,055,031,000 after acquiring an additional 505,924 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 3.5% during the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,415,364,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 0.5% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,528,248 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,532,902,000 after acquiring an additional 36,511 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently issued reports on PANW. Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $265.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Argus raised their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $222.00 to $320.00 in a research note on Friday, June 5th. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $255.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. BNP Paribas Exane increased their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $220.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 4th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-seven have issued a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $306.59.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PANW opened at $279.53 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $227.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 229.12, a PEG ratio of 9.77 and a beta of 0.94. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12 month low of $139.57 and a 12 month high of $302.95. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $214.06 and its 200-day simple moving average is $188.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.86.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, June 2nd. The network technology company reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.06. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 7.95% and a return on equity of 10.53%. The firm had revenue of $3 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.94 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.37 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 31.1% compared to the same quarter last year. 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. Analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.03 EPS for the current year.

Palo Alto Networks News Roundup

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

• Positive Sentiment: Scotiabank nudged its FY2027 EPS estimate higher for PANW, signaling modest confidence in longer-term earnings growth.
• Positive Sentiment: Recent commentary on Prisma AIRS suggests AI security is gaining traction and could boost revenue growth and deal size.
• Positive Sentiment: Broader cybersecurity-sector coverage remains constructive, with analysts and institutions still favoring the group amid rising AI-related security demand.
• Neutral Sentiment: Northland Securities kept a $302 price target and Market Perform rating while issuing a range of earnings estimates, indicating a cautious but not bearish stance.
• Negative Sentiment: Northland also trimmed some near- and mid-term EPS forecasts for PANW, reflecting lingering concern about profitability assumptions and valuation.
• Negative Sentiment: PANW still trades at a demanding valuation, so any slowdown in AI-security momentum could increase volatility.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 62,904 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $258.65, for a total transaction of $16,270,119.60. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 235,983 shares in the company, valued at approximately $61,037,002.95. This trade represents a 21.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora purchased 68,085 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 27th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $146.87 per share, for a total transaction of $9,999,643.95. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 343,394 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $50,434,276.78. This trade represents a 24.73% increase in their position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 72,076 shares of company stock valued at $17,930,587 in the last quarter. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.