Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW Shares Purchased by Forge First Asset Management Inc.

Forge First Asset Management Inc. raised its position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 47.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 16,500 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,300 shares during the quarter. Palo Alto Networks comprises approximately 1.5% of Forge First Asset Management Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 23rd biggest holding. Forge First Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $3,360,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Klingman & Associates LLC increased its position in Palo Alto Networks by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. Klingman & Associates LLC now owns 2,131 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $434,000 after acquiring an additional 46 shares during the period. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.8% during the third quarter. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,742 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $558,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. Mattern Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 2.9% in the third quarter. Mattern Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,692 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $345,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the period. PTM Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 4.0% in the 3rd quarter. PTM Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,300 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $276,000 after buying an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arlington Trust Co LLC increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 4.8% during the 3rd quarter. Arlington Trust Co LLC now owns 1,088 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $222,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on PANW. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $265.00 price objective (up from $230.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Monday, January 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $240.00 to $220.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Northland Securities boosted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $177.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. Robert W. Baird set a $220.00 target price on Palo Alto Networks and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group lowered their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $212.00 to $175.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have issued a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $211.62.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 3.1%

Shares of NASDAQ PANW opened at $149.40 on Friday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52-week low of $139.57 and a 52-week high of $223.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $121.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 82.54, a PEG ratio of 5.23 and a beta of 0.75. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $175.36 and its 200 day simple moving average is $190.82.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 17th. The network technology company reported $1.03 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.94 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $2.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.58 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 17.60% and a net margin of 12.96%.Palo Alto Networks’s revenue was up 14.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.81 EPS. 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. As a group, analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,768 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $191.03, for a total value of $23,070,311.04. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 298,887 shares in the company, valued at approximately $57,096,383.61. This represents a 28.78% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $188.18, for a total transaction of $940,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 155,119 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,190,293.42. This represents a 3.12% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 260,542 shares of company stock worth $49,910,995 over the last three months. 1.40% of the stock is owned by 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.