Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW Shares Purchased by Maryland State Retirement & Pension System

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 18.3% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 39,926 shares of the network technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,170 shares during the period. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $6,401,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of PANW. Avantax Planning Partners Inc. increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 13.6% during the 1st quarter. Avantax Planning Partners Inc. now owns 5,918 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $949,000 after purchasing an additional 707 shares in the last quarter. Calamos Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1,765.1% during the first quarter. Calamos Wealth Management LLC now owns 46,160 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $7,400,000 after buying an additional 43,685 shares during the period. Calamos Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 32.6% during the first quarter. Calamos Advisors LLC now owns 264,178 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $42,353,000 after buying an additional 64,925 shares during the period. AMG National Trust Bank grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 4.8% during the first quarter. AMG National Trust Bank now owns 2,218 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $356,000 after buying an additional 102 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bleakley Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 19.1% during the first quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 20,848 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $3,342,000 after buying an additional 3,348 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $345.00, for a total value of $310,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 79,644 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $27,477,180. This represents a 1.12% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director James J. Goetz sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $279.90, for a total value of $5,598,000.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 20,000 shares in the company, valued at $5,598,000. This represents a 50.00% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 101,239 shares of company stock worth $27,174,360. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PANW has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Capital One Financial raised their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $168.00 to $248.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 19th. TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $330.00 price target (up from $255.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, June 1st. Robert W. Baird set a $320.00 price objective on Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Finally, Arete Research lifted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $185.00 to $433.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, June 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have issued a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $323.98.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PANW opened at $354.02 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.86. The stock has a market capitalization of $288.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 290.18, a PEG ratio of 13.10 and a beta of 0.91. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $283.88 and its 200-day simple moving average is $210.11. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12 month low of $139.57 and a 12 month high of $368.17.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, June 2nd. The network technology company reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.94 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.37 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 31.1% compared to the same quarter last year. 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. Analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.03 EPS for the current year.

Key Headlines Impacting Palo Alto Networks

Here are the key news stories impacting Palo Alto Networks this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Tigress Financial raised its price target on Palo Alto Networks from $245 to $430 and reiterated a buy rating, signaling strong upside confidence in the stock. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Cybersecurity stocks, including PANW, are benefiting from reports that AI-driven security spending could support long-term growth as cyberattacks intensify. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: PANW also got a lift from a broader cybersecurity rally after IBM’s weak results and cybersecurity warning pushed investors toward security-focused software names. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Market commentary highlighted PANW as one of the cybersecurity stocks “riding the wave” from IBM’s earnings miss, reinforcing the sector-wide bid into defensive tech. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Commentary from Jim Cramer and other market-watch articles called Palo Alto Networks “unbelievable” and noted strong year-to-date gains, but these pieces were more sentiment-driven than fundamental catalysts. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: A Zacks comparison article argued Zscaler has an edge over PANW due to valuation and integration-cost concerns, but this appears to be a relative-valuation view rather than a direct negative catalyst. Article Title

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.