Zhang Financial LLC Purchases New Shares in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Zhang Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 5,481 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $879,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 4.1% during 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 buying an additional 2,659,100 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 30,331,705 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $5,587,100,000 after acquiring an additional 594,789 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 11.9% in the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 19,375,486 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $3,568,964,000 after acquiring an additional 2,065,776 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,989,257 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $2,934,935,000 after acquiring an additional 540,756 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,415,364,000. 79.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 1.3%

Shares of PANW opened at $358.68 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $292.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 294.00, a PEG ratio of 13.32 and a beta of 0.91. 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, Inc. has a 1-year low of $139.57 and a 1-year high of $368.80. The company has a 50-day moving average of $290.04 and a 200 day moving average of $212.30.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PANW has been the subject of several analyst reports. Truist Financial raised their price objective 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. Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $315.00 target price (up from $220.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Argus increased their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $222.00 to $320.00 in a report on Friday, June 5th. Evercore restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $415.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, June 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty have issued a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $327.74.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $289.56, for a total value of $1,447,800.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 145,250 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $42,058,590. This represents a 3.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Aparna Bawa sold 290 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $348.74, for a total value of $101,134.60. Following the transaction, the director owned 6,437 shares in the company, valued at $2,244,839.38. The trade was a 4.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 101,239 shares of company stock valued at $27,174,360 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

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.