Conning Inc. Cuts Stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Conning Inc. cut its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 5.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,011 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 164 shares during the quarter. Conning Inc.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $616,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Brighton Jones LLC increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 147.7% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,761 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,230,000 after buying an additional 4,031 shares during the period. Bison Wealth LLC grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 169.1% during the 4th quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 5,212 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $948,000 after acquiring an additional 3,275 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 10.8% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 14,125 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $2,410,000 after purchasing an additional 1,374 shares during the period. Simplicity Wealth LLC bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the first quarter valued at approximately $224,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 91.4% in the first quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 41,837 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $7,139,000 after purchasing an additional 19,975 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $208.55 on Friday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $144.15 and a fifty-two week high of $217.94. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $192.94 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $189.17. The stock has a market cap of $139.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 129.94, a PEG ratio of 4.96 and a beta of 0.98.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its earnings results on Monday, August 18th. The network technology company reported $0.95 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.89 by $0.06. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 17.66% and a net margin of 12.30%.The company had revenue of $2.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.50 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.75 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Palo Alto Networks has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.750-3.850 EPS. Q1 2026 guidance at 0.880-0.900 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 846,408 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $204.06, for a total value of $172,718,016.48. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 275,013 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $56,119,152.78. This represents a 75.48% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $211.92, for a total transaction of $25,594,426.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 149,190 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $31,616,344.80. The trade was a 44.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 1,315,130 shares of company stock worth $260,687,367. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PANW has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Bank of America upgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $215.00 target price on the stock in a report on Tuesday, August 19th. Guggenheim raised their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 19th. Tigress Financial assumed coverage on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Friday, September 26th. They set a “buy” rating and a $245.00 price objective for the company. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $225.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Monday, September 15th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $223.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Friday, August 15th. Twenty-eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $214.95.

Palo Alto Networks Company Profile

Palo Alto Networks, Inc provides cybersecurity solutions worldwide. The company offers firewall appliances and software; and Panorama, a security management solution for the global control of network security platform as a virtual or a physical appliance. It also provides subscription services covering the areas of threat prevention, malware and persistent threat, URL filtering, laptop and mobile device protection, DNS security, Internet of Things security, SaaS security API, and SaaS security inline, as well as threat intelligence, and data loss prevention.