Swiss National Bank Increases Stock Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Swiss National Bank lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 27.9% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 2,371,615 shares of the network technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 516,715 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $380,217,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Darwin Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter worth about $25,000. Steph & Co. lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 88.2% during the 4th quarter. Steph & Co. now owns 143 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 67 shares in the last quarter. Knuff & Co LLC bought a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Sittner & Nelson LLC boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 73.8% in the 4th quarter. Sittner & Nelson LLC now owns 146 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 62 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Luken Investment Analytics LLC boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 196.2% in the 4th quarter. Luken Investment Analytics LLC now owns 154 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 102 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 1.3%

Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $358.68 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $290.04 and a 200-day moving average price of $212.30. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a twelve month low of $139.57 and a twelve month high of $368.80. The company has a market capitalization of $292.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 294.00, a P/E/G ratio of 13.32 and a beta of 0.91.

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 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 company had revenue of $3 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.94 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.37 EPS. Palo Alto Networks’s revenue 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. As a group, equities analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.03 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Northland Securities upped their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $190.00 to $302.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. UBS Group set a $300.00 price target on Palo Alto Networks and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $345.00 price objective (up from $265.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Capital One Financial set a $421.00 price objective on Palo Alto Networks and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, June 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty have issued a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $327.74.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Palo Alto Networks news, Director Aparna Bawa sold 290 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $348.74, for a total value of $101,134.60. Following the sale, the director directly owned 6,437 shares in the company, valued at $2,244,839.38. The trade was a 4.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $345.00, for a total value of $310,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 79,644 shares in the company, valued at $27,477,180. This represents a 1.12% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 101,239 shares of company stock valued at $27,174,360. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

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.