Plato Investment Management Ltd Buys New Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Plato Investment Management Ltd purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 15,417 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,227,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in PANW. Darwin Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter worth about $25,000. Knuff & Co LLC purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Sittner & Nelson LLC raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 73.8% in the fourth quarter. Sittner & Nelson LLC now owns 146 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter worth about $27,000. Finally, Luken Investment Analytics LLC boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 196.2% during the 4th quarter. Luken Investment Analytics LLC now owns 154 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 102 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have weighed in on PANW. Scotiabank reiterated a “sector outperform” rating and set a $320.00 target price (up from $180.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Robert W. Baird set a $320.00 price target on Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. HSBC increased their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $114.00 to $207.00 in a report on Thursday, June 4th. Argus set a $425.00 price objective on Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Tuesday, July 21st. Finally, TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, August 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty have issued a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $339.61.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $345.00, for a total value of $310,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 79,644 shares in the company, valued at approximately $27,477,180. This represents a 1.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Helle Thorning-Schmidt sold 700 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $346.85, for a total transaction of $242,795.00. Following the sale, the director owned 5,898 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,045,721.30. The trade was a 10.61% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 101,239 shares of company stock worth $27,174,360 in the last ninety days. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PANW opened at $384.27 on Monday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $328.02 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $235.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $313.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 314.98, a PEG ratio of 12.89 and a beta of 0.91. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12-month low of $139.57 and a 12-month high of $398.88. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released 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. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 10.53% and a net margin of 7.95%.The firm had revenue of $3 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.94 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.37 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 31.1% on a year-over-year basis. 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 anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.