370,359 Shares in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW Purchased by Westfield Capital Management Co. LP

Westfield Capital Management Co. LP bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 370,359 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $75,412,000. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP owned 0.05% of Palo Alto Networks as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Darwin Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Howard Hughes Medical Institute acquired a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter valued at $29,000. MTM Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter valued at $31,000. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 39.7% in the 3rd quarter. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 176 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the period. Finally, Spurstone Advisory Services LLC acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter worth $41,000. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on PANW. Westpark Capital reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. Mizuho set a $200.00 price target on Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $185.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $265.00 price objective (up from $230.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Monday, January 5th. Finally, Susquehanna lowered their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $230.00 to $200.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have assigned a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $211.62.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $188.18, for a total transaction of $940,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 155,119 shares in the company, valued at $29,190,293.42. This trade represents a 3.12% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 800 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.81, for a total transaction of $147,848.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 46,005 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,502,184.05. This represents a 1.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 260,542 shares of company stock worth $49,910,995 in the last quarter. 1.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 2.2%

Shares of PANW opened at $144.84 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $118.19 billion, a PE ratio of 80.02, a PEG ratio of 5.12 and a beta of 0.75. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1 year low of $139.57 and a 1 year high of $223.61. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $176.09 and a 200-day simple moving average of $191.11.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 17th. The network technology company reported $1.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.94 by $0.09. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 17.60% and a net margin of 12.96%.The firm had revenue of $2.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.58 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.81 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 14.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Palo Alto Networks has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.650-3.700 EPS and its Q3 2026 guidance at 0.780-0.800 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Palo Alto Networks

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.