First Trust Advisors LP Has $1.04 Billion Holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

First Trust Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 4.4% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,466,118 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 273,103 shares during the quarter. Palo Alto Networks makes up approximately 0.7% of First Trust Advisors LP’s holdings, making the stock its 9th biggest position. First Trust Advisors LP owned about 0.79% of Palo Alto Networks worth $1,036,648,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Darwin Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter worth approximately $25,000. Knuff & Co LLC purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 4th quarter worth $26,000. Steph & Co. grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 88.2% during the 4th quarter. Steph & Co. now owns 143 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 67 shares during the period. Sittner & Nelson LLC increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 73.8% in the 4th quarter. Sittner & Nelson LLC now owns 146 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. Finally, WHI TRUST Co LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 4th quarter worth $28,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 1.9%

Shares of PANW stock opened at $342.15 on Wednesday. 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 stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $295.28 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $214.74. The firm has a market capitalization of $278.85 billion, a PE ratio of 280.45, a PEG ratio of 12.95 and a beta of 0.91. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52-week low of $139.57 and a 52-week high of $368.80.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on PANW. BNP Paribas Exane lifted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $330.00 to $380.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 1st. Stifel Nicolaus set a $340.00 price target on Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Truist Financial raised their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $275.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Loop Capital lifted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $160.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Finally, Tigress Financial boosted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $245.00 to $430.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty have given a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $331.48.

Palo Alto Networks News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Palo Alto Networks this week:

• Positive Sentiment: J.P. Morgan-style rotation into cybersecurity is showing up in the news flow, with multiple commentators arguing that AI-driven security demand should benefit PANW as enterprises spend more to protect themselves from increasingly powerful AI tools. Why Palo Alto Stock Can Be a Big Winner in Cybersecurity’s New AI Era
• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley said sentiment on software stocks has become “too negative,” and named high-profile names like PANW as potential rebound candidates if investors rotate back into quality software leaders. Morgan Stanley Analysts Say Sentiment Has Gotten ‘Too Negative’ on Software Stocks. These Are Their Picks
• Positive Sentiment: Citi Wealth’s CIO highlighted cybersecurity as a favored theme, saying “infinite AI agents” could drive more enterprise spending on security, which reinforces the bull case for PANW. Citi Wealth CIO Warns “Infinite AI Agents” Will Accelerate Cybersecurity’s Share of Enterprise Spending
• Positive Sentiment: Palo Alto Networks announced it intends to acquire Embrace to expand its observability platform with digital experience monitoring, adding real-user monitoring and synthetics tools that could broaden its product offering and deepen customer value. Palo Alto Networks to Extend Leading Observability Platform with Innovative Digital Experience Monitoring
• Neutral Sentiment: One market note said PANW had slipped recently alongside broader software weakness, suggesting investor caution may still be weighing on the shares. Palo Alto Networks (PANW) Sees a More Significant Dip Than Broader Market: Some Facts to Know

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Palo Alto Networks news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 1,100 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $285.08, for a total value of $313,588.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 81,636 shares in the company, valued at $23,272,790.88. This represents a 1.33% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director John P. Key sold 7,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $279.24, for a total transaction of $2,094,300.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 12,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,490,500. This trade represents a 37.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 101,239 shares of company stock worth $27,174,360 in the last quarter. 1.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.