Cornerstone Planning LLC Makes New $2.77 Million Investment in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Cornerstone Planning LLC bought a new position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 14,939 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,766,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in PANW. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 4.1% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 67,929,063 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $12,512,533,000 after buying an additional 2,659,100 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 30,331,705 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $5,587,100,000 after buying an additional 594,789 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 11.9% in the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 19,375,486 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $3,568,964,000 after acquiring an additional 2,065,776 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,989,257 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $2,934,935,000 after acquiring an additional 540,756 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,415,364,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Nikesh Arora acquired 68,085 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 27th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $146.87 per share, for a total transaction of $9,999,643.95. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer directly owned 343,394 shares in the company, valued at approximately $50,434,276.78. The trade was a 24.73% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.42, for a total value of $802,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 150,250 shares in the company, valued at $24,103,105. This trade represents a 3.22% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 101,044 shares of company stock worth $26,022,722 over the last 90 days. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on PANW. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $270.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $315.00 target price (up from $220.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Daiwa Securities Group dropped their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $212.00 to $175.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 24th. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $209.00 to $253.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Finally, HSBC raised their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $114.00 to $207.00 in a research report on Thursday, June 4th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-eight have given a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $306.59.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

NASDAQ:PANW opened at $287.78 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 0.86. The firm has a market cap of $234.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 235.89, a P/E/G ratio of 10.69 and a beta of 0.94. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $139.57 and a fifty-two week high of $302.95. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $228.24 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $192.65.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, June 2nd. The network technology company reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $3 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.94 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 7.95% and a return on equity of 10.53%. The business’s revenue was up 31.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $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. Analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Palo Alto Networks

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.