M.D. Sass LLC Acquires New Shares in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

M.D. Sass LLC acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm acquired 35,885 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,238,000. Palo Alto Networks makes up 0.8% of M.D. Sass LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 23rd biggest holding.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Trilogy Capital Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.8% in the second quarter. Trilogy Capital Inc. now owns 2,127 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $725,000 after acquiring an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. Wisconsin Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.2% during the 2nd quarter. Wisconsin Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,206 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,093,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Orrstown Financial Services Inc. grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter. Orrstown Financial Services Inc. now owns 3,197 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,090,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the period. GSG Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. GSG Advisors LLC now owns 12,536 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $2,010,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares during the period. Finally, Outfitters Financial LLC increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Outfitters Financial LLC now owns 3,265 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $601,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on PANW shares. Capital One Financial set a $421.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $265.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $434.00 price objective (up from $330.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Friday. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $400.00 target price (up from $350.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Tuesday, August 4th. Finally, Loop Capital upped their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $160.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty have assigned a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $351.56.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director John P. Key sold 7,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 $3,490,500. The trade was a 37.50% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 62,904 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $258.65, for a total value of $16,270,119.60. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 235,983 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $61,037,002.95. This trade represents a 21.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 100,839 shares of company stock valued at $27,079,580 in the last ninety days. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of PANW stock opened at $374.14 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $304.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 306.67, a PEG ratio of 12.89 and a beta of 0.91. 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 company has a 50-day simple moving average of $332.48 and a 200 day simple moving average of $238.39. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52 week low of $139.57 and a 52 week high of $398.88.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, June 2nd. The network technology company reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $3 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 period in the prior year, the firm 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 predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.02 earnings per share for the current 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.