Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW Shares Bought by Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd.

Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 25.3% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 205,053 shares of the network technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 41,392 shares during the period. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $41,957,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in PANW. Whipplewood Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 6,400.0% in the second quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 130 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 128 shares in the last quarter. Briaud Financial Planning Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter worth $28,000. Dagco Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the first quarter worth $33,000. WPG Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the 1st quarter valued at $37,000. Finally, Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 58.9% during the 1st quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL now owns 224 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 83 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of PANW stock opened at $221.38 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $148.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 137.93, a P/E/G ratio of 5.24 and a beta of 0.98. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1-year low of $144.15 and a 1-year high of $223.61. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $202.47 and a two-hundred day moving average of $193.30.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 18th. The network technology company reported $0.95 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $2.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.50 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 12.30% and a return on equity of 17.66%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.75 EPS. Palo Alto Networks has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.750-3.850 EPS. Q1 2026 guidance at 0.880-0.900 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $211.92, for a total transaction of $25,594,426.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 149,190 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $31,616,344.80. This trade represents a 44.74% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 846,408 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $204.06, for a total transaction of $172,718,016.48. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 275,013 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $56,119,152.78. This represents a 75.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 1,315,130 shares of company stock worth $260,687,367 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on PANW. Tigress Financial began coverage on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Friday, September 26th. They set a “buy” rating and a $245.00 price target for the company. Scotiabank raised their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $228.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 19th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $223.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Friday, August 15th. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $207.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 19th. Finally, JMP Securities raised their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $212.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a report on Monday. Thirty investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $218.17.

Palo Alto Networks Profile

Palo Alto Networks, Inc provides cybersecurity solutions worldwide. The company offers firewall appliances and software; and Panorama, a security management solution for the global control of network security platform as a virtual or a physical appliance. It also provides subscription services covering the areas of threat prevention, malware and persistent threat, URL filtering, laptop and mobile device protection, DNS security, Internet of Things security, SaaS security API, and SaaS security inline, as well as threat intelligence, and data loss prevention.