Handelsbanken Fonder AB Has $183.31 Million Stock Holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Handelsbanken Fonder AB decreased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 25.7% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 537,550 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 186,097 shares during the quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $183,315,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 15.0% during the first quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 410,401 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $65,796,000 after acquiring an additional 53,485 shares in the last quarter. Aviva PLC boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 5.4% during the fourth quarter. Aviva PLC now owns 568,804 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $104,774,000 after purchasing an additional 29,230 shares during the last quarter. B&D White Capital Company LLC purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the first quarter valued at about $353,000. Granite Islands Private Wealth LLC grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 43.6% in the first quarter. Granite Islands Private Wealth LLC now owns 15,342 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $2,453,000 after purchasing an additional 4,659 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp increased its position in Palo Alto Networks by 8.8% in the 4th quarter. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp now owns 48,458 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $8,926,000 after purchasing an additional 3,926 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 5.8%

Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $385.04 on Tuesday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52 week low of $139.57 and a 52 week high of $385.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 0.86. The firm has a market capitalization of $313.81 billion, a PE ratio of 315.61, a PEG ratio of 12.21 and a beta of 0.91. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $319.57 and its 200-day simple moving average is $229.90.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $289.56, for a total transaction of $1,447,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 145,250 shares in the company, valued at $42,058,590. This represents a 3.33% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director James J. Goetz sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $279.90, for a total transaction of $5,598,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 20,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,598,000. This trade represents a 50.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 101,239 shares of company stock valued at $27,174,360 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on PANW. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $400.00 price target (up from $350.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $220.00 to $350.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Argus set a $425.00 price objective on Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday, July 21st. Scotiabank reaffirmed a “sector outperform” rating and set a $320.00 price objective (up from $180.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Finally, DA Davidson lifted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $190.00 to $345.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty have assigned a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $333.76.

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.