Shepherd Financial Partners LLC Purchases Shares of 4,571 Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Shepherd Financial Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund purchased 4,571 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,559,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in PANW. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC increased its position 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 buying an additional 53,485 shares during the period. Aviva PLC raised its stake 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 worth $104,774,000 after buying an additional 29,230 shares during the last quarter. B&D White Capital Company LLC acquired a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the first quarter valued at $353,000. Bridgewater Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter valued at $2,159,000. Finally, Granite Islands Private Wealth LLC boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 43.6% during 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 acquiring an additional 4,659 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have weighed in on PANW shares. Stephens increased their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $180.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Tuesday, June 16th. Northland Securities raised their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $190.00 to $302.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Arete Research lifted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $185.00 to $433.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, June 29th. Finally, Scotiabank reissued a “sector outperform” rating and issued a $320.00 price target (up from $180.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty have issued a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $360.89.

More Palo Alto Networks News

Here are the key news stories impacting Palo Alto Networks this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Cantor Fitzgerald raised its price target for Palo Alto Networks from $340 to $425 and maintained an “overweight” rating, implying substantial potential upside from recent trading levels. Cantor Fitzgerald price-target update
• Positive Sentiment: Palo Alto Networks introduced its Frontier AI Critical Defense Program, a collaboration focused on protecting critical infrastructure from AI-driven vulnerabilities. The initiative could strengthen PANW’s positioning in the growing AI-security market, although its near-term financial impact is unclear. Frontier AI Critical Defense Program announcement
• Neutral Sentiment: TD Cowen reportedly expects strong appreciation for PANW shares, while other brokerage coverage gives the stock a “Moderate Buy” average recommendation. These views support the long-term outlook but did not prevent near-term selling. TD Cowen forecast
• Neutral Sentiment: A lawmaker’s disclosed purchases of several cybersecurity stocks highlight continued investor and policy interest in the sector, but the purchases were not specific to Palo Alto Networks and are unlikely to materially affect PANW’s valuation. Cybersecurity stock purchases
• Negative Sentiment: Cybersecurity shares sold off broadly, with CrowdStrike declining sharply despite a higher Truist price target; Palo Alto Networks also fell during the session. The sector move appears to be the main immediate pressure on PANW. Cybersecurity sector selloff
• Negative Sentiment: Investors may also be taking profits after a substantial rally. With PANW trading at a very elevated earnings multiple, strong growth expectations leave the stock vulnerable when sector sentiment weakens or positive news fails to exceed expectations. Palo Alto Networks trading update

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, Director Aparna Bawa sold 290 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $348.74, for a total transaction of $101,134.60. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 6,437 shares in the company, valued at $2,244,839.38. The trade was a 4.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Helle Thorning-Schmidt sold 700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $346.85, for a total value of $242,795.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 5,898 shares in the company, valued at $2,045,721.30. The trade was a 10.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 100,839 shares of company stock valued at $27,079,580. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

PANW stock opened at $359.76 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.86. The company’s 50-day moving average is $334.41 and its 200-day moving average is $239.69. The stock has a market capitalization of $293.20 billion, a PE ratio of 294.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 12.55 and a beta of 0.91. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1 year low of $139.57 and a 1 year high of $398.88.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, June 2nd. The network technology company reported $0.85 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79 by $0.06. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 10.53% and a net margin of 7.95%.The business had revenue of $3 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.94 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.37 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 31.1% compared to the same quarter last year. 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 expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.