1,528,458 Shares in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW Purchased by Employees Provident Fund Board

Employees Provident Fund Board bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 1,528,458 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $281,542,000. Palo Alto Networks accounts for 2.1% of Employees Provident Fund Board’s holdings, making the stock its 13th largest holding.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Princeton Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter. Princeton Capital Management LLC now owns 1,520 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $310,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. South Plains Financial Inc. grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. South Plains Financial Inc. now owns 4,823 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $982,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Fayez Sarofim & Co grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Fayez Sarofim & Co now owns 4,310 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $878,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Certified Advisory Corp increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 0.3% in the third quarter. Certified Advisory Corp now owns 16,938 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $3,449,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares during the period. Finally, Cooper Financial Group increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Cooper Financial Group now owns 4,227 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $779,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of PANW stock opened at $287.78 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $234.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 235.89, a PEG ratio of 10.69 and a beta of 0.94. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52-week low of $139.57 and a 52-week high of $302.95. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The company’s 50 day moving average is $228.24 and its 200 day moving average is $192.65.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.94 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 10.53% and a net margin of 7.95%.Palo Alto Networks’s revenue was up 31.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $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. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on PANW. HSBC boosted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $114.00 to $207.00 in a research note on Thursday, June 4th. Cantor Fitzgerald set a $340.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $275.00 to $375.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $220.00 to $350.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $340.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-eight have issued a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $306.59.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 62,904 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $258.65, for a total transaction of $16,270,119.60. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 235,983 shares in the company, valued at $61,037,002.95. This represents a 21.05% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora acquired 68,085 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 27th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $146.87 per share, for a total transaction of $9,999,643.95. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 343,394 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $50,434,276.78. This represents a 24.73% increase in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders sold 101,044 shares of company stock worth $26,022,722. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

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.