5,771,815 Shares in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW Purchased by Legal & General Group Plc

Legal & General Group Plc acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund acquired 5,771,815 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,968,304,000.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of PANW. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 15.0% in the 1st quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 410,401 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $65,796,000 after acquiring an additional 53,485 shares during the last quarter. Aviva PLC grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 5.4% during the 4th quarter. Aviva PLC now owns 568,804 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $104,774,000 after purchasing an additional 29,230 shares during the last quarter. B&D White Capital Company LLC purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the 1st quarter worth about $353,000. Bridgewater Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter worth about $2,159,000. Finally, Granite Islands Private Wealth LLC lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 43.6% in the first quarter. Granite Islands Private Wealth LLC now owns 15,342 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $2,453,000 after purchasing an additional 4,659 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. Barclays restated an “overweight” rating and set a $370.00 target price (up from $315.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Needham & Company LLC raised their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $350.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. Tigress Financial boosted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $245.00 to $430.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. Benchmark upped their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $340.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald increased their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $340.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 19th. 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $364.00.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, Director James J. Goetz sold 20,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $279.90, for a total value of $5,598,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 20,000 shares in the company, valued at $5,598,000. The trade was a 50.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $345.00, for a total transaction of $310,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 79,644 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $27,477,180. This trade represents a 1.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 37,935 shares of company stock valued at $10,809,461 over the last three months. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 1.9%

Shares of NASDAQ PANW opened at $350.90 on Tuesday. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $285.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 287.62, a PEG ratio of 12.00 and a beta of 0.91. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $338.70 and a 200 day moving average price of $243.49. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52-week low of $139.57 and a 52-week high of $398.88.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, June 2nd. The network technology company reported $0.85 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $3 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.94 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 10.53% and a net margin of 7.95%.Palo Alto Networks’s quarterly revenue was up 31.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $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. Sell-side analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.02 earnings per share 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.