Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW Stock Holdings Lessened by Northstar Asset Management Inc.

Northstar Asset Management Inc. decreased its stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 13.5% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 11,299 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 1,763 shares during the quarter. Palo Alto Networks makes up about 1.1% of Northstar Asset Management Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 25th biggest position. Northstar Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $3,853,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. increased its position in Palo Alto Networks by 14.4% in the 2nd quarter. Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. now owns 226,065 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $77,093,000 after purchasing an additional 28,536 shares during the last quarter. Nissay Asset Management Corp Japan lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 6.7% during the 2nd quarter. Nissay Asset Management Corp Japan now owns 240,842 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $82,132,000 after buying an additional 15,079 shares during the last quarter. Braun Stacey Associates Inc. grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 7.3% in the 2nd quarter. Braun Stacey Associates Inc. now owns 125,615 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $42,837,000 after buying an additional 8,527 shares in the last quarter. Field & Main Bank increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 1.6% in the second quarter. Field & Main Bank now owns 18,965 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $6,467,000 after buying an additional 290 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 68.7% in the second quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,774,225 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $946,066,000 after buying an additional 1,129,480 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

More Palo Alto Networks News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Benchmark raised its price target to $400 from $340 and maintained a Buy rating, citing potential upside to next-generation security annual recurring revenue, revenue, operating income and margins. The forecast reinforces expectations that Palo Alto Networks’ AI-security strategy is gaining traction. Palo Alto Networks Gets a $400 Target
• Positive Sentiment: Investors are taking confidence from CrowdStrike’s stronger-than-expected results, which highlighted robust AI-related cybersecurity demand and lifted sentiment across the sector. Palo Alto Networks is viewed as a potential beneficiary of the same spending cycle. Palo Alto Networks Stock Trades Up
• Positive Sentiment: Platformization, adoption of AI-security products and recent deal wins are expected to support fourth-quarter growth. BTIG also assigned PANW a Buy rating, adding to broadly favorable analyst coverage. Palo Alto Networks to Report Q4 Earnings
• Neutral Sentiment: Earnings are the next major catalyst. Traders expect potentially significant movement after the report, while analysts are watching recurring revenue, margins, operating income and guidance—not just revenue and EPS. Expected Post-Earnings Stock Move
• Negative Sentiment: Acquisition-related costs could pressure results, and the stock’s triple-digit P/E ratio—above 300 based on the supplied data—means much of the AI-growth outlook may already be reflected in the price. Any shortfall in growth or guidance could trigger profit-taking. Palo Alto’s Rally Has One Big Problem Ahead of Earnings
• Negative Sentiment: Chief Accounting Officer Josh D. Paul sold 900 shares for approximately $318,000, reducing his position by 1.21%. The transaction is small relative to his remaining holdings but may create a modest sentiment headwind. Palo Alto Networks Insider Sale

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Palo Alto Networks news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 1,100 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $285.08, for a total transaction of $313,588.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 81,636 shares in the company, valued at $23,272,790.88. This represents a 1.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director James J. Goetz sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the director directly owned 20,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,598,000. This represents a 50.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 38,835 shares of company stock worth $11,127,854 in the last ninety days. 1.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have issued reports on PANW shares. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $275.00 to $355.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $450.00 price target (up from $335.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Friday. Truist Financial set a $435.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 19th. Argus set a $425.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday, July 21st. Finally, Mizuho set a $415.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 19th. 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $368.42.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 2.9%

Shares of Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $371.59 on Friday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12-month low of $139.57 and a 12-month high of $398.88. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $344.62 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $248.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $302.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 304.58, a PEG ratio of 12.10 and a beta of 0.91.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its quarterly 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 net margin of 7.95% and a return on equity of 10.53%. The company had revenue of $3 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.94 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.37 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly 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 analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.01 earnings per share for the current 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.