State of Michigan Retirement System Increases Stock Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

State of Michigan Retirement System raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 0.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 180,000 shares of the network technology company’s stock after buying an additional 400 shares during the quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $36,835,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in PANW. Whipplewood Advisors LLC lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 6,400.0% during the second quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 130 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 128 shares during the period. Briaud Financial Planning Inc purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the second quarter valued at $28,000. Dagco Inc. purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the first quarter valued at $33,000. WPG Advisers LLC purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 1st quarter worth about $37,000. Finally, Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 58.9% in the 1st quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL now owns 224 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 83 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $204.19, for a total value of $1,020,950.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 96,135 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,629,805.65. This represents a 4.94% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 846,408 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 275,013 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $56,119,152.78. This represents a 75.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 1,215,130 shares of company stock valued at $243,407,367. 2.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 0.9%

Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $220.24 on Friday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52-week low of $144.15 and a 52-week high of $223.61. The company has a market cap of $147.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 137.22, a P/E/G ratio of 5.24 and a beta of 0.98. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $204.51 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $194.30.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on PANW shares. KeyCorp lowered Palo Alto Networks from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Bank of America lifted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $215.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 20th. Westpark Capital reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Tuesday, August 19th. New Street Research lifted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $235.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $210.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 2nd. Thirty analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus 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.