Stephens Inc. AR Buys 2,076 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Stephens Inc. AR grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 3.6% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 59,796 shares of the network technology company’s stock after buying an additional 2,076 shares during the quarter. Stephens Inc. AR’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $12,237,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of PANW. Brighton Jones LLC raised its position 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 valued at $1,230,000 after purchasing an additional 4,031 shares during the period. Bison Wealth LLC raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 169.1% in the fourth quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 5,212 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $948,000 after purchasing an additional 3,275 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 10.8% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 14,125 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $2,410,000 after purchasing an additional 1,374 shares during the period. Avior Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 205.6% in the first quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,145 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $366,000 after purchasing an additional 1,443 shares during the period. Finally, Childress Capital Advisors LLC grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 6.1% during the first quarter. Childress Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,513 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $258,000 after acquiring an additional 87 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Guggenheim boosted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 19th. UBS Group set a $245.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Friday, September 26th. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $207.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 19th. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $245.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. Thirty analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $216.60.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PANW opened at $211.82 on Tuesday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $197.67 and its 200-day moving average price is $191.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $141.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 131.98, a PEG ratio of 4.94 and a beta of 0.98. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a one year low of $144.15 and a one year high of $217.94.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 18th. The network technology company reported $0.95 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.89 by $0.06. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 12.30% and a return on equity of 17.66%. The firm had revenue of $2.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.50 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.75 EPS. The business’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. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $204.19, for a total value of $1,020,950.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 96,135 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,629,805.65. This represents a 4.94% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $211.92, for a total transaction of $25,594,426.08. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 149,190 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $31,616,344.80. This trade represents a 44.74% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 1,315,130 shares of company stock worth $260,687,367 in the last ninety days. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Palo Alto Networks 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.