Summit Global Investments Makes New $1.67 Million Investment in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Summit Global Investments bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund bought 4,205 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,671,000.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter worth about $25,833,462,000. Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,968,304,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,569,755,000. Deutsche Bank AG purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,481,236,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 16.0% in the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 22,476,753 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $3,603,473,000 after buying an additional 3,101,267 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director John P. Key sold 2,500 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Monday, September 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $376.03, for a total value of $940,075.00. Following the sale, the director owned 10,000 shares in the company, valued at $3,760,300. The trade was a 20.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 27,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $391.60, for a total transaction of $10,769,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 117,750 shares in the company, valued at approximately $46,110,900. The trade was a 18.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 54,210 shares of company stock valued at $20,823,029 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.55% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, September 2nd. Northland Securities set a $360.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 2nd. Benchmark boosted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $340.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 24th. Susquehanna upped their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $350.00 to $415.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 2nd. Finally, Roth Capital reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $300.00 target price (up from $210.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $398.55.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PANW opened at $365.87 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $299.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 717.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 10.49 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $372.15 and a 200-day moving average price of $269.89. 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, Inc. has a 12 month low of $139.57 and a 12 month high of $432.33.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, September 1st. The network technology company reported $1.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.98 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $3.41 billion for 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%. Palo Alto Networks’s quarterly revenue was up 34.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $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. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.32 EPS for the current year.

Palo Alto Networks Profile

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.