PNC Financial Services Group Inc. Raises Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 9.3% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 242,851 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 20,649 shares during the quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $49,697,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Brighton Jones LLC raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 147.7% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,761 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,230,000 after buying an additional 4,031 shares during the period. Bison Wealth LLC increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 169.1% in the 4th quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 5,212 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $948,000 after acquiring an additional 3,275 shares during the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 8.7% in the 1st quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 2,991 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $510,000 after acquiring an additional 239 shares during the period. Bridgewater Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the 1st quarter valued at about $461,000. Finally, Bryn Mawr Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the first quarter valued at about $277,000. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PANW opened at $204.77 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $208.86 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $196.90. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a one year low of $144.15 and a one year high of $223.61. The company has a market cap of $140.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 127.58, a PEG ratio of 4.99 and a beta of 0.95.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its quarterly earnings results 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. 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.50 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.75 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 15.8% on a year-over-year basis. Palo Alto Networks has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.750-3.850 EPS. Q1 2026 guidance at 0.880-0.900 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PANW has been the subject of several recent research reports. Piper Sandler upgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $200.00 to $225.00 in a research note on Tuesday, August 12th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $216.00 to $228.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $215.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 20th. Citigroup reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Monday, October 27th. Finally, JMP Securities raised their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $212.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 27th. Twenty-nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $220.95.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $217.94, for a total value of $26,321,485.56. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 356,409 shares in the company, valued at approximately $77,675,777.46. This represents a 25.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $204.19, for a total transaction of $1,020,950.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 96,135 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,629,805.65. The trade was a 4.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders sold 1,215,830 shares of company stock worth $249,160,428. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About Palo Alto Networks

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.