Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW Stock: IPG Investment Advisors LLC Reduces Position

IPG Investment Advisors LLC decreased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 7.5% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 23,274 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 1,887 shares during the quarter. Palo Alto Networks comprises 1.3% of IPG Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 16th biggest position. IPG Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $9,247,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Solstein Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the second quarter worth approximately $26,000. N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter valued at $27,000. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter valued at $28,000. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC raised its position in Palo Alto Networks by 125.0% in the 2nd quarter. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 81 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Frazier Financial Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 253.3% during the 1st quarter. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC now owns 212 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 152 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

NASDAQ:PANW opened at $350.20 on Wednesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $372.01 and its 200 day moving average price is $271.49. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1-year low of $139.57 and a 1-year high of $432.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.87. The firm has a market cap of $286.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 686.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 10.09 and a beta of 0.96.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, September 1st. The network technology company reported $1.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.98 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $3.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.35 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 2.67% and a return on equity of 8.50%. Palo Alto Networks’s revenue was up 34.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.95 EPS. Palo Alto Networks has set its FY 2027 guidance at 4.160-4.190 EPS and its Q1 2027 guidance at 0.960-0.980 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.32 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director John Key sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $376.03, for a total value of $940,075.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 10,000 shares in the company, valued at $3,760,300. This trade represents a 20.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 27,500 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $391.60, for a total value of $10,769,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 117,750 shares in the company, valued at $46,110,900. This represents a 18.93% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 54,210 shares of company stock valued at $20,823,029. Corporate insiders own 0.55% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have issued reports on the stock. HSBC lowered their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $201.00 to $190.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus set a $415.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 19th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 8th. Evercore reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Monday, August 31st. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane boosted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $380.00 to $400.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Thirty-nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $398.55.

Palo Alto Networks Company Profile

Palo Alto Networks, Inc (NASDAQ:PANW) is a global cybersecurity company that helps organizations protect networks, cloud environments, endpoints, and digital infrastructure. Its offerings are designed to prevent cyberattacks, identify security risks, monitor activity, and support incident response across enterprise, government, and service-provider environments.

The company’s portfolio includes network security products such as next-generation firewalls and security operations tools; Prisma, its cloud security platform; and Cortex, a suite focused on endpoint protection, threat detection, security analytics, and automated response.