Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW Holdings Trimmed by Hilltop Holdings Inc.

Hilltop Holdings Inc. reduced its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 54.1% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 4,794 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 5,655 shares during the quarter. Hilltop Holdings Inc.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $769,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of PANW. Darwin Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter valued at about $25,000. Steph & Co. grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 88.2% in the 4th quarter. Steph & Co. now owns 143 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. Knuff & Co LLC bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Sittner & Nelson LLC raised its holdings 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, Luken Investment Analytics LLC lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 196.2% during the fourth quarter. Luken Investment Analytics LLC now owns 154 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 102 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PANW has been the subject of a number of research reports. Scotiabank restated a “sector outperform” rating and set a $320.00 target price (up from $180.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Arete Research raised their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $185.00 to $433.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, June 29th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $325.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $330.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $220.00 to $350.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty have given a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $331.48.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director James J. Goetz sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $279.90, for a total value of $5,598,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 20,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,598,000. This represents a 50.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Helle Thorning-Schmidt sold 700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $346.85, for a total transaction of $242,795.00. Following the sale, the director owned 5,898 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,045,721.30. This represents a 10.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders sold 101,239 shares of company stock worth $27,174,360. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

PANW opened at $323.79 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $263.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 265.40, a PEG ratio of 12.02 and a beta of 0.91. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $300.79 and a 200-day moving average of $217.83. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12-month low of $139.57 and a 12-month high of $368.80.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, June 2nd. The network technology company reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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%.Palo Alto Networks’s revenue for the quarter was up 31.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company 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. Equities analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Palo Alto Networks 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.