Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW Stock: Pinnacle Associates Ltd. Reduces Stake

Pinnacle Associates Ltd. cut its holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 6.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 74,450 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 5,349 shares during the quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $29,580,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of PANW. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC raised its position in Palo Alto Networks by 15.0% in the first quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 410,401 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $65,796,000 after purchasing an additional 53,485 shares during the last quarter. B&D White Capital Company LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the first quarter valued at about $353,000. Bridgewater Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the second quarter valued at about $2,159,000. Granite Islands Private Wealth LLC grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 43.6% during 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. Finally, Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.6% during the third quarter. Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. now owns 240,029 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $95,366,000 after purchasing an additional 3,700 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 1.9%

Shares of PANW opened at $340.28 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $278.35 billion, a PE ratio of 667.23, a PEG ratio of 9.99 and a beta of 0.93. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12 month low of $139.57 and a 12 month high of $432.33. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $371.03 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $304.63. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, September 1st. The network technology company reported $1.02 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.98 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $3.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.35 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 8.50% and a net margin of 2.67%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 34.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.95 earnings per share. Palo Alto Networks has set its FY 2027 guidance at 4.160-4.190 EPS and its Q1 2027 guidance at 0.960-0.980 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.31 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director John P. Key sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $376.03, for a total value of $940,075.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 10,000 shares in the company, valued at $3,760,300. This represents a 20.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director James Goetz sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $376.68, for a total value of $7,533,600.00. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 54,210 shares of company stock valued at $20,823,029 over the last 90 days. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on PANW shares. Phillip Securities downgraded Palo Alto Networks from a “moderate buy” rating to a “hold” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $320.00 to $346.00 in a research note on Monday, September 7th. Stephens set a $400.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $253.00 to $351.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 17th. Roth Capital reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $300.00 target price (up from $210.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Finally, Truist Financial set a $400.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Thirty-nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $398.55.

About Palo Alto Networks

Palo Alto Networks, Inc (NASDAQ:PANW) is a global cybersecurity company that helps organizations protect networks, cloud environments, endpoints, and digital infrastructure. Its offerings are designed to prevent cyberattacks, identify security risks, monitor activity, and support incident response across enterprise, government, and service-provider environments.

The company’s portfolio includes network security products such as next-generation firewalls and security operations tools; Prisma, its cloud security platform; and Cortex, a suite focused on endpoint protection, threat detection, security analytics, and automated response.