Sigma Planning Corp Lowers Holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Sigma Planning Corp decreased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 20.3% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 16,422 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 4,185 shares during the quarter. Sigma Planning Corp’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $2,633,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the fourth quarter worth about $1,415,364,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Palo Alto Networks by 4.1% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 67,929,063 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $12,512,533,000 after purchasing an additional 2,659,100 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 11.9% in the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 19,375,486 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $3,568,964,000 after purchasing an additional 2,065,776 shares in the last quarter. Employees Provident Fund Board bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 4th quarter valued at about $281,542,000. Finally, Eurizon Capital SGR S.p.A. purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 4th quarter worth approximately $164,968,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director James J. Goetz sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 directly owned 20,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,598,000. This represents a 50.00% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Aparna Bawa sold 290 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $348.74, for a total value of $101,134.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 6,437 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,244,839.38. This trade represents a 4.31% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 101,239 shares of company stock valued at $27,174,360. 1.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PANW has been the topic of several research reports. Capital One Financial set a $421.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. Robert W. Baird set a $320.00 target price on Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. UBS Group set a $300.00 price target on Palo Alto Networks and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $275.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Finally, Mizuho raised their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $265.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty have assigned a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $327.74.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $353.99 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $288.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 290.16, a PEG ratio of 13.15 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $287.03 and a 200 day moving average price of $211.27. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52 week low of $139.57 and a 52 week high of $368.17.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, June 2nd. The network technology company reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $3 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.94 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 7.95% and a return on equity of 10.53%. Palo Alto Networks’s revenue for the quarter was up 31.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.37 EPS. 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. Sell-side analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.03 EPS for the current year.

Palo Alto Networks 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.