Russell Investments Group Ltd. Decreases Stock Holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Russell Investments Group Ltd. lowered its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 14.8% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 704,254 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 121,931 shares during the quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $143,898,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of PANW. Viawealth LLC boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 4.1% during the 2nd quarter. Viawealth LLC now owns 5,540 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,134,000 after acquiring an additional 220 shares in the last quarter. Richmond Investment Services LLC lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 87.2% during the second quarter. Richmond Investment Services LLC now owns 3,286 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $672,000 after purchasing an additional 1,531 shares during the last quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 20.1% during the second quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 32,757 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $6,703,000 after purchasing an additional 5,472 shares during the last quarter. North Star Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 65.8% in the second quarter. North Star Asset Management Inc. now owns 6,802 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,392,000 after purchasing an additional 2,700 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Oak Associates Ltd. OH acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the second quarter worth approximately $904,000. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of PANW opened at $186.27 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $208.12 and its two-hundred day moving average is $197.40. The stock has a market cap of $129.83 billion, a PE ratio of 117.89, a P/E/G ratio of 4.35 and a beta of 0.95. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12 month low of $144.15 and a 12 month high of $223.61.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 19th. The network technology company reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $2.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.46 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 17.05% and a net margin of 11.69%.The business’s revenue was up 15.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.56 EPS. Palo Alto Networks has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.800-3.900 EPS. Q2 2026 guidance at 0.930-0.950 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $191.11, for a total value of $23,081,119.14. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 177,954 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $34,008,788.94. This represents a 40.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 846,408 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $204.06, for a total value of $172,718,016.48. Following the transaction, 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 position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 1,215,130 shares of company stock worth $249,031,488. Insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on PANW shares. Guggenheim upped their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 19th. Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $228.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 19th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $245.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. BTIG Research reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $248.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Monday, November 17th. Finally, Bank of America increased their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $215.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 20th. Thirty research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $225.09.

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.