Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW Shares Purchased by Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc.

Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 14.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 226,065 shares of the network technology company’s stock after buying an additional 28,536 shares during the period. Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $77,093,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Darwin Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter worth about $25,000. Knuff & Co LLC purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Solstein Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter worth about $26,000. Sittner & Nelson LLC boosted 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 during the last quarter. Finally, N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter worth about $27,000. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Palo Alto Networks news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 1,100 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $285.08, for a total transaction of $313,588.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 81,636 shares in the company, valued at $23,272,790.88. This represents a 1.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director John P. Key sold 7,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $279.24, for a total value of $2,094,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 12,500 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,490,500. This trade represents a 37.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 38,835 shares of company stock worth $11,127,854. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Key Headlines Impacting Palo Alto Networks

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

• Positive Sentiment: Benchmark raised its price target to $400 from $340 and maintained a Buy rating, citing potential upside to next-generation security annual recurring revenue, revenue, operating income and margins. The forecast reinforces expectations that Palo Alto Networks’ AI-security strategy is gaining traction. Palo Alto Networks Gets a $400 Target
• Positive Sentiment: Investors are taking confidence from CrowdStrike’s stronger-than-expected results, which highlighted robust AI-related cybersecurity demand and lifted sentiment across the sector. Palo Alto Networks is viewed as a potential beneficiary of the same spending cycle. Palo Alto Networks Stock Trades Up
• Positive Sentiment: Platformization, adoption of AI-security products and recent deal wins are expected to support fourth-quarter growth. BTIG also assigned PANW a Buy rating, adding to broadly favorable analyst coverage. Palo Alto Networks to Report Q4 Earnings
• Neutral Sentiment: Earnings are the next major catalyst. Traders expect potentially significant movement after the report, while analysts are watching recurring revenue, margins, operating income and guidance—not just revenue and EPS. Expected Post-Earnings Stock Move
• Negative Sentiment: Acquisition-related costs could pressure results, and the stock’s triple-digit P/E ratio—above 300 based on the supplied data—means much of the AI-growth outlook may already be reflected in the price. Any shortfall in growth or guidance could trigger profit-taking. Palo Alto’s Rally Has One Big Problem Ahead of Earnings
• Negative Sentiment: Chief Accounting Officer Josh D. Paul sold 900 shares for approximately $318,000, reducing his position by 1.21%. The transaction is small relative to his remaining holdings but may create a modest sentiment headwind. Palo Alto Networks Insider Sale

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $371.59 on Friday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1 year low of $139.57 and a 1 year high of $398.88. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $344.62 and a 200 day moving average price of $248.45. The company has a market cap of $302.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 304.58, a PEG ratio of 12.10 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 0.86.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, June 2nd. The network technology company reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 net margin of 7.95% and a return on equity of 10.53%. Palo Alto Networks’s revenue was up 31.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $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. Sell-side analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on PANW. New Street Research set a $415.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Tuesday, August 18th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $434.00 target price (up from $330.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Friday, August 14th. Berenberg Bank boosted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $290.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus set a $415.00 price target on Palo Alto Networks and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 19th. Finally, Capital One Financial set a $421.00 price objective on Palo Alto Networks and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty have given a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $368.42.

Palo Alto Networks Company 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.