Westpac Banking Corp Makes New Investment in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Westpac Banking Corp bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 4,108 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,401,000.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of PANW. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the second quarter valued at approximately $25,833,462,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 4.1% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 67,929,063 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $12,512,533,000 after buying an additional 2,659,100 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 30,331,705 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $5,587,100,000 after buying an additional 594,789 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 16.0% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 22,476,753 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $3,603,473,000 after buying an additional 3,101,267 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,989,257 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $2,934,935,000 after acquiring an additional 540,756 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on PANW shares. Susquehanna reiterated a “positive” rating and issued a $350.00 price target (up from $200.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. DA Davidson upped their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $190.00 to $345.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. BNP Paribas Exane raised their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $330.00 to $380.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 1st. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $434.00 target price (up from $330.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Friday, August 14th. Finally, Tigress Financial boosted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $245.00 to $430.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. One equities research 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $362.67.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 2.4%

Shares of PANW stock opened at $358.04 on Friday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1-year low of $139.57 and a 1-year high of $398.88. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $337.38 and its 200 day moving average price is $241.72. 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 company has a market cap of $291.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 293.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 12.02 and a beta of 0.91.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, June 2nd. The network technology company reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.06. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 10.53% and a net margin of 7.95%.The company had revenue of $3 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.94 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.37 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 31.1% compared to the same quarter last year. 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, research analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, Director James J. Goetz sold 20,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks 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 in the company, valued at $5,598,000. This trade represents a 50.00% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Helle Thorning-Schmidt sold 700 shares of the business’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 directly owned 5,898 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,045,721.30. This represents a 10.61% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders have sold 37,935 shares of company stock valued at $10,809,461. 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.