OFI Invest Asset Management Sells 1,188,289 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

OFI Invest Asset Management trimmed its position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 84.3% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 221,863 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 1,188,289 shares during the quarter. OFI Invest Asset Management’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $45,402,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 2.5% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 62,775,544 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $10,712,019,000 after buying an additional 1,541,637 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 41.9% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 7,235,406 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,234,650,000 after buying an additional 2,134,735 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 16.0% in the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 6,902,048 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,177,765,000 after buying an additional 950,765 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the first quarter valued at approximately $810,047,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 5.2% in the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,422,037 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $754,576,000 after buying an additional 219,111 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have weighed in on PANW. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $225.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Monday, September 15th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $217.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 19th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $210.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 2nd. UBS Group set a $245.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Friday, September 26th. Finally, Stephens reiterated an “equal weight” rating and set a $205.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday, August 19th. Twenty-eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $214.95.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

NASDAQ:PANW opened at $208.55 on Friday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a one year low of $144.15 and a one year high of $217.94. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $192.94 and a 200-day moving average of $189.17. The company has a market cap of $139.50 billion, a PE ratio of 129.94, a PEG ratio of 4.96 and a beta of 0.98.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 18th. The network technology company reported $0.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.89 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $2.54 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.50 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 12.30% and a return on equity of 17.66%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 15.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.75 EPS. Palo Alto Networks has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.750-3.850 EPS. Q1 2026 guidance at 0.880-0.900 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $211.92, for a total value of $25,594,426.08. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 149,190 shares in the company, valued at $31,616,344.80. The trade was a 44.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $202.16, for a total transaction of $141,512.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 32,474 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,564,943.84. The trade was a 2.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 1,315,130 shares of company stock valued at $260,687,367. Corporate insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

About Palo Alto Networks

Palo Alto Networks, Inc provides cybersecurity solutions worldwide. The company offers firewall appliances and software; and Panorama, a security management solution for the global control of network security platform as a virtual or a physical appliance. It also provides subscription services covering the areas of threat prevention, malware and persistent threat, URL filtering, laptop and mobile device protection, DNS security, Internet of Things security, SaaS security API, and SaaS security inline, as well as threat intelligence, and data loss prevention.