Essential Partners LLC Decreases Stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Essential Partners LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 27.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 4,148 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 1,562 shares during the quarter. Essential Partners LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $665,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of PANW. Darwin Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter worth $25,000. Steph & Co. lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 88.2% during the fourth quarter. Steph & Co. now owns 143 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares in the last quarter. Knuff & Co LLC acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Sittner & Nelson LLC boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 73.8% in the fourth quarter. Sittner & Nelson LLC now owns 146 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 62 shares during the period. Finally, Luken Investment Analytics LLC boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 196.2% in the fourth quarter. Luken Investment Analytics LLC now owns 154 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 102 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $325.68 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. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1 year low of $139.57 and a 1 year high of $368.80. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $306.57 and its 200-day simple moving average is $221.46. The firm has a market cap of $265.43 billion, a PE ratio of 266.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 11.66 and a beta of 0.91.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, June 2nd. The network technology company reported $0.85 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $3 billion during 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 company’s revenue for the quarter was up 31.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm 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. Equities analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, Director John P. Key sold 7,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $279.24, for a total value of $2,094,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 12,500 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,490,500. The trade was a 37.50% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director James J. Goetz sold 20,000 shares of the company’s 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 sale, the director directly owned 20,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,598,000. This represents a 50.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 101,239 shares of company stock worth $27,174,360 over the last quarter. 1.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Evercore reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $415.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. DA Davidson increased their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $190.00 to $345.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday, June 16th. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $345.00 target price (up from $265.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Finally, Arete Research upped their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $185.00 to $433.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, June 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty have assigned a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $331.48.

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.