Kestra Advisory Services LLC Increases Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Kestra Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 9.9% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 157,284 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 14,112 shares during the quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $25,216,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. South Plains Financial Inc. increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.0% in the third quarter. South Plains Financial Inc. now owns 4,823 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $982,000 after buying an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Fayez Sarofim & Co lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Fayez Sarofim & Co now owns 4,310 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $878,000 after buying an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Cooper Financial Group lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Cooper Financial Group now owns 4,227 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $779,000 after buying an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. Outfitters Financial LLC grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Outfitters Financial LLC now owns 3,265 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $601,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares during the period. Finally, Ancora Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC now owns 2,312 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $471,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $289.56, for a total value of $1,447,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 145,250 shares in the company, valued at $42,058,590. This represents a 3.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director John P. Key sold 7,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $279.24, for a total value of $2,094,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 12,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,490,500. This trade represents a 37.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 101,239 shares of company stock worth $27,174,360. 1.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PANW traded down $12.40 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $325.91. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 4,677,069 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,047,614. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $274.08 and a two-hundred day moving average of $206.64. The stock has a market capitalization of $265.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 267.14, a P/E/G ratio of 12.56 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 0.86. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1-year low of $139.57 and a 1-year high of $368.17.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, June 2nd. The network technology company reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79 by $0.06. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 7.95% and a return on equity of 10.53%. The firm had revenue of $3 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.94 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.37 earnings per share. Palo Alto Networks’s quarterly revenue was up 31.1% on a year-over-year basis. Palo Alto Networks has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.770-3.790 EPS and its Q4 2026 guidance at 0.960-0.980 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have issued reports on PANW. Guggenheim downgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “neutral” rating to a “reduce” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 27th. Citigroup restated a “market outperform” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $330.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. BNP Paribas Exane lifted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $330.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $255.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have issued a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $318.65.

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.