Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW Shares Bought by Arizona State Retirement System

Arizona State Retirement System increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 225,037 shares of the network technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,639 shares during the quarter. Arizona State Retirement System’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $76,742,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of PANW. Solstein Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the second quarter worth approximately $26,000. N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $27,000. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter valued at $28,000. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 125.0% in the 2nd quarter. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 81 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. Finally, EMC Capital Management acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the second quarter worth approximately $34,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. Stephens set a $400.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, September 2nd. Berenberg Bank boosted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $290.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Loop Capital increased their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $160.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $425.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, September 2nd. Finally, Guggenheim reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, September 2nd. Thirty-nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $385.67.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Palo Alto Networks stock traded up $3.72 on Tuesday, reaching $336.98. 6,122,994 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,561,149. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a twelve month low of $139.57 and a twelve month high of $398.88. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $350.21 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $256.64. The stock has a market cap of $274.64 billion, a PE ratio of 660.76, a PEG ratio of 9.62 and a beta of 0.91.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, September 1st. The network technology company reported $1.02 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98 by $0.04. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 8.50% and a net margin of 2.67%.The business had revenue of $3.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.35 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.95 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 34.5% on a year-over-year basis. Palo Alto Networks has set its FY 2027 guidance at 4.160-4.190 EPS and its Q1 2027 guidance at 0.960-0.980 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.3 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Helle Thorning-Schmidt sold 700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $346.85, for a total transaction of $242,795.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 5,898 shares in the company, valued at $2,045,721.30. This represents a 10.61% 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 John Key sold 7,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $279.24, for a total transaction of $2,094,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 12,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,490,500. This trade represents a 37.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 38,635 shares of company stock worth $11,150,578. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.