Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI Makes New Investment in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm acquired 46,200 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,755,000.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in PANW. Darwin Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter valued at $25,000. Knuff & Co LLC purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Sittner & Nelson LLC grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 73.8% during the fourth quarter. Sittner & Nelson LLC now owns 146 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares during the period. N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the second quarter valued at about $27,000. Finally, Luken Investment Analytics LLC increased its position in Palo Alto Networks by 196.2% in the fourth quarter. Luken Investment Analytics LLC now owns 154 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 102 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on PANW. Stephens raised their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $180.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Capital One Financial set a $421.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Susquehanna restated a “positive” rating and set a $350.00 target price (up from $200.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. BNP Paribas Exane raised their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $330.00 to $380.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. Finally, Loop Capital boosted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $160.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. One investment 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $342.61.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 2.2%

Shares of NASDAQ:PANW opened at $375.76 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $306.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 308.00, a PEG ratio of 12.89 and a beta of 0.91. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12 month low of $139.57 and a 12 month high of $398.88. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $330.20 and a 200 day moving average price of $237.05. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, June 2nd. The network technology company reported $0.85 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $3 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 quarterly revenue was up 31.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $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. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, 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 value of $5,598,000.00. Following the sale, the director owned 20,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,598,000. This represents a 50.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $289.56, for a total transaction of $1,447,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 145,250 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $42,058,590. This trade represents a 3.33% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 101,239 shares of company stock valued at $27,174,360 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

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.