Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. Takes $8.96 Million Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 26,272 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,959,000.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Darwin Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter valued at about $25,000. Knuff & Co LLC bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Sittner & Nelson LLC raised its stake 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 acquiring an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Finally, Luken Investment Analytics LLC grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 196.2% in the fourth quarter. Luken Investment Analytics LLC now owns 154 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 102 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 145,250 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $42,058,590. This represents a 3.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Helle Thorning-Schmidt sold 700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $346.85, for a total transaction of $242,795.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 5,898 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,045,721.30. This trade represents a 10.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 37,935 shares of company stock worth $10,809,461. Insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

More Palo Alto Networks News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Analysts remain bullish: BTIG Research reaffirmed its “Buy” rating and set a $380 price target, implying roughly 12% upside from the referenced price. BTIG Reiterates Buy Rating on Palo Alto Networks
• Positive Sentiment: JPMorgan raised its price target from $326 to $384 and maintained an “Overweight” rating, signaling improved confidence in PANW’s earnings and growth outlook. JPMorgan Raises Palo Alto Networks Price Target
• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street’s overall analyst view remains favorable, and Benchmark also expects the stock to rise. Strong firewall bookings, software growth and AI-related traffic are cited as potential drivers of longer-term network-security demand. Wall Street Analysts See Palo Alto as a Buy Can Rising Network Security Demand Boost PANW’s Long-Term Growth?
• Neutral Sentiment: PANW was scheduled to report earnings, giving investors a near-term catalyst. Its latest reported quarter exceeded consensus revenue and EPS estimates, but the stock’s high valuation leaves results and guidance important for sustaining momentum. Palo Alto Networks Expected to Post Earnings
• Neutral Sentiment: The reported short-interest data shows zero shares short, so it provides no meaningful evidence of short-seller pressure or potential short-covering support.
• Negative Sentiment: Palo Alto Networks recently fell even as the broader market gained, indicating near-term profit-taking, valuation concerns or company-specific selling. The decline followed a session in which PANW lost more than 3%. Palo Alto Networks Stock Sinks as Market Gains

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 0.2%

Shares of NASDAQ PANW opened at $339.31 on Thursday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1-year low of $139.57 and a 1-year high of $398.88. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $341.05 and a 200 day moving average price of $246.01. The stock has a market capitalization of $276.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 278.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 11.39 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.86.

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. The company had revenue of $3 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.94 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 10.53% and a net margin of 7.95%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 31.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.37 earnings per share. 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 2.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PANW has been the topic of several research reports. Cantor Fitzgerald raised their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $340.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 19th. Barclays reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $370.00 target price (up from $315.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Guggenheim downgraded Palo Alto Networks from a “neutral” rating to a “reduce” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 27th. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and set a $400.00 price target (up from $350.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th. Finally, Citigroup restated a “market outperform” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, August 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty have given a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $365.87.

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.