Wedbush Fund Advisers LLC Lowers Stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Wedbush Fund Advisers LLC lowered its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 18.6% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 136,553 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 31,179 shares during the quarter. Palo Alto Networks comprises about 4.1% of Wedbush Fund Advisers LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 13th largest position. Wedbush Fund Advisers LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $46,567,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of PANW. Darwin Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the second quarter worth about $25,000. Knuff & Co LLC acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Solstein Capital LLC purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter valued at about $26,000. Sittner & Nelson LLC increased its stake 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 worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. Finally, N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the second quarter worth $27,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Wedbush boosted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $300.00 to $340.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $390.00 price objective (up from $300.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, August 19th. Tigress Financial upped their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $245.00 to $430.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $340.00 to $425.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 19th. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $400.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Monday, August 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty have issued a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $365.87.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 3.1%

Shares of NASDAQ PANW opened at $339.90 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $277.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 278.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 11.76 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. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $339.90 and its 200 day simple moving average is $244.71.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.94 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.37 EPS. The firm’s 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. Equities research analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.02 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, Director Helle Thorning-Schmidt sold 700 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 7th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,045,721.30. The trade was a 10.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Aparna Bawa sold 290 shares of the 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 transaction, the director directly owned 6,437 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,244,839.38. This trade represents a 4.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 37,935 shares of company stock worth $10,809,461 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Trending Headlines about Palo Alto Networks

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

• Positive Sentiment: Analysts raised price targets. JPMorgan increased its target from $326 to $384 and maintained an “overweight” rating, while Benchmark raised its target from $340 to $400 and reiterated a “buy” rating. These revisions reflect continued confidence in Palo Alto Networks’ growth prospects. JPMorgan price target article Benchmark price target article
• Positive Sentiment: Cybersecurity demand remains a long-term growth driver. Strong firewall bookings, expanding software revenue and increasing AI-related network traffic are supporting the company’s Network Security outlook. Can Rising Network Security Demand Boost PANW’s Long-Term Growth?
• Neutral Sentiment: Earnings are the next major catalyst. Palo Alto Networks was expected to report quarterly results on Tuesday. Investors will focus on billings, recurring software and platform growth, profitability and forward guidance to determine whether the company’s elevated valuation is justified. Palo Alto Networks Expected to Post Earnings on Tuesday
• Negative Sentiment: Valuation and profit-taking may be weighing on the stock. Despite favorable analyst commentary, PANW trades at a very high reported P/E ratio of about 279 and has risen sharply over the past year. The decline while the market gained indicates investors may be locking in profits or demanding stronger near-term results before bidding shares higher. Palo Alto Networks Stock Sinks As Market Gains

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.