Sapient Capital LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Sapient Capital LLC raised its position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 39.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 134,869 shares of the network technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 37,961 shares during the quarter. Palo Alto Networks makes up approximately 0.6% of Sapient Capital LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 23rd biggest position. Sapient Capital LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $45,993,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of PANW. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 147.7% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,761 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,230,000 after purchasing an additional 4,031 shares during the period. Bison Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 169.1% during the 4th quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 5,212 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $948,000 after buying an additional 3,275 shares in the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 66.3% during the 2nd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 3,484 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $713,000 after buying an additional 1,389 shares in the last quarter. Osterweis Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 11,100.0% in the 2nd quarter. Osterweis Capital Management Inc. now owns 560 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $115,000 after buying an additional 555 shares during the period. Finally, Main Street Financial Solutions LLC grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 6.0% in the second quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC now owns 4,398 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $900,000 after acquiring an additional 249 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

NASDAQ:PANW opened at $363.86 on Monday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12 month low of $139.57 and a 12 month high of $376.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.86. The firm has a market capitalization of $296.55 billion, a PE ratio of 298.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 12.21 and a beta of 0.91. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $317.88 and its 200 day moving average price is $228.49.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, June 2nd. The network technology company reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) 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 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.37 EPS. 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 2.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PANW has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $370.00 price objective (up from $315.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday. Mizuho boosted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $265.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $345.00 price target (up from $265.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Stephens increased their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $180.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Finally, HSBC lifted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $114.00 to $207.00 in a research note on Thursday, June 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty have issued a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $333.76.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $345.00, for a total value of $310,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 79,644 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $27,477,180. This represents a 1.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, 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 transaction of $5,598,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 20,000 shares in the company, valued at $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 101,239 shares of company stock valued at $27,174,360 over the last 90 days. 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.