Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW Stake Decreased by Avity Investment Management Inc.

Avity Investment Management Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 8.0% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 194,590 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 16,846 shares during the period. Palo Alto Networks makes up 4.2% of Avity Investment Management Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest position. Avity Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $66,359,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PANW. Darwin Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the second quarter valued at about $25,000. Steph & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 88.2% in the 4th quarter. Steph & Co. now owns 143 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares in the last quarter. Knuff & Co LLC purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Sittner & Nelson LLC raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 73.8% during the 4th quarter. Sittner & Nelson LLC now owns 146 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Luken Investment Analytics LLC lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 196.2% in the 4th quarter. Luken Investment Analytics LLC now owns 154 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 102 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Palo Alto Networks 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 in the company, valued at approximately $2,045,721.30. This trade 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 Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the director owned 6,437 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,244,839.38. This represents a 4.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 101,239 shares of company stock valued at $27,174,360 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PANW has been the subject of several research reports. Citigroup reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $400.00 target price (up from $340.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Monday, July 13th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $209.00 to $253.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $370.00 price objective (up from $315.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $270.00 to $335.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Finally, Wolfe Research reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $320.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty have assigned a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $333.76.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of PANW stock opened at $363.86 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $296.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 298.25, a PEG ratio of 12.21 and a beta of 0.91. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $139.57 and a fifty-two week high of $376.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 0.86. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $317.88 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $228.20.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, June 2nd. The network technology company reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $3 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.94 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 7.95% and a return on equity of 10.53%. The business’s revenue was up 31.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.37 earnings per share. 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 2.02 earnings per share for the current year.

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.