Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund Boosts Stock Holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 18.8% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 20,544 shares of the network technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,257 shares during the period. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $3,294,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PANW. Darwin Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter valued at $25,000. Knuff & Co LLC purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Steph & Co. raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 88.2% in the fourth quarter. Steph & Co. now owns 143 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. Sittner & Nelson LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 73.8% during the fourth quarter. Sittner & Nelson LLC now owns 146 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. Finally, WHI TRUST Co LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, Director Aparna Bawa sold 290 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $348.74, for a total transaction of $101,134.60. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 6,437 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,244,839.38. The trade was a 4.31% 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, Director Helle Thorning-Schmidt sold 700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $346.85, for a total value of $242,795.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 5,898 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,045,721.30. This represents a 10.61% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 101,239 shares of company stock worth $27,174,360 over the last three months. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently commented on PANW. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $387.00 price objective (up from $320.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday, July 21st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $220.00 to $350.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $209.00 to $253.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $330.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Thursday, June 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty have given a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $331.48.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PANW opened at $314.15 on Thursday. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $256.03 billion, a PE ratio of 257.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 11.84 and a beta of 0.91. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $305.12 and its 200-day moving average price is $220.50. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a twelve month low of $139.57 and a twelve month high of $368.80.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced 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 company had revenue of $3 billion during 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. The firm’s quarterly 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. Equities research analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.03 EPS for the current year.

About Palo Alto Networks

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.