Cerity Partners LLC Acquires 48,252 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Cerity Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 5.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 949,186 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 48,252 shares during the quarter. Cerity Partners LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $174,840,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 4.1% during the fourth 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 last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 1.7% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 29,736,916 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $6,055,031,000 after purchasing an additional 505,924 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 3.5% during 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. Norges Bank bought a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the fourth quarter valued at $1,415,364,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 0.5% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,528,248 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,532,902,000 after purchasing an additional 36,511 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $330.00 price objective (up from $255.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. UBS Group set a $300.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus set a $340.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Needham & Company LLC increased their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $350.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Finally, Guggenheim lowered shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “neutral” rating to a “reduce” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 27th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-seven have assigned a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $306.59.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.42, for a total value of $802,100.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 150,250 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,103,105. This trade represents a 3.22% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora purchased 68,085 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 27th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $146.87 per share, for a total transaction of $9,999,643.95. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer directly owned 343,394 shares in the company, valued at $50,434,276.78. This trade represents a 24.73% increase in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 72,076 shares of company stock worth $17,930,587 over the last ninety days. 1.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 2.1%

PANW stock opened at $266.33 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $217.06 billion, a PE ratio of 218.30, a P/E/G ratio of 9.55 and a beta of 0.94. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12 month low of $139.57 and a 12 month high of $302.95. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $207.23 and its 200 day moving average is $186.93. 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 quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, June 2nd. The network technology company reported $0.85 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $3 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.94 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 7.95% and a return on equity of 10.53%. The firm’s revenue was up 31.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm 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. On average, research analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.15 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.