Verus Capital Partners LLC Sells 2,289 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Verus Capital Partners LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 24.3% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 7,136 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 2,289 shares during the period. Verus Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $1,144,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of PANW. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Palo Alto Networks by 4.1% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 67,929,063 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $12,512,533,000 after acquiring an additional 2,659,100 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 30,331,705 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $5,587,100,000 after purchasing an additional 594,789 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 16.0% in the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 22,476,753 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $3,603,473,000 after purchasing an additional 3,101,267 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,989,257 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $2,934,935,000 after purchasing an additional 540,756 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the fourth quarter valued at $1,415,364,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. FBN Securities restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, July 1st. Susquehanna reaffirmed a “positive” rating and set a $350.00 price objective (up from $200.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. UBS Group set a $300.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $345.00 price target (up from $265.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Finally, HSBC upped their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $114.00 to $207.00 in a research note on Thursday, June 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty have issued a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $331.48.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 1.9%

Shares of NASDAQ PANW opened at $331.83 on Friday. 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 market cap of $270.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 271.99, a P/E/G ratio of 12.32 and a beta of 0.91. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52 week low of $139.57 and a 52 week high of $368.80. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $308.00 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $222.24.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, June 2nd. The network technology company reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) 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 the consensus estimate of $2.94 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.37 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter 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. Research analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Palo Alto Networks news, Director Helle Thorning-Schmidt sold 700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $346.85, for a total value of $242,795.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 5,898 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,045,721.30. This trade represents a 10.61% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $289.56, for a total transaction of $1,447,800.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 145,250 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $42,058,590. This trade represents a 3.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 101,239 shares of company stock worth $27,174,360. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

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.