Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. Invests $187.73 Million in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 550,489 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $187,728,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. owned about 0.07% of Palo Alto Networks as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its stake in 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 buying an additional 4,031 shares in the last quarter. Bison Wealth LLC increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 169.1% in the fourth quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 5,212 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $948,000 after acquiring an additional 3,275 shares during the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 1,389 shares in the last quarter. Osterweis Capital Management Inc. raised its position in Palo Alto Networks by 11,100.0% during the second quarter. Osterweis Capital Management Inc. now owns 560 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $115,000 after acquiring an additional 555 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Main Street Financial Solutions LLC raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 6.0% in the 2nd quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC now owns 4,398 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $900,000 after purchasing an additional 249 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Citizens Jmp raised their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $320.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 12th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $335.00 target price on Palo Alto Networks and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $345.00 price objective (up from $265.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. DA Davidson boosted 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. Finally, Susquehanna reissued a “positive” rating and issued a $350.00 target price (up from $200.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty have issued a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $362.67.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 2.4%

Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $358.04 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $337.38 and its 200 day moving average is $241.72. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12-month low of $139.57 and a 12-month high of $398.88. The company has a market capitalization of $291.80 billion, a PE ratio of 293.48, a PEG ratio of 12.02 and a beta of 0.91. 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 (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 quarterly revenue was up 31.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last 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. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, Director James J. Goetz sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the director directly owned 20,000 shares in the company, valued at $5,598,000. The trade was a 50.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Helle Thorning-Schmidt sold 700 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $346.85, for a total value of $242,795.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 5,898 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,045,721.30. This trade represents a 10.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 37,935 shares of company stock worth $10,809,461. 1.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.