4,506 Shares in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW Bought by Madison Asset Management LLC

Madison Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund bought 4,506 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $722,000.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in PANW. Brighton Jones LLC increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 147.7% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,761 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,230,000 after buying an additional 4,031 shares during the period. Bison Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 169.1% during the 4th quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 5,212 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $948,000 after acquiring an additional 3,275 shares during the period. Sivia Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 66.3% during the 2nd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 3,484 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $713,000 after acquiring an additional 1,389 shares during the period. Osterweis Capital Management Inc. grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 11,100.0% during the 2nd quarter. Osterweis Capital Management Inc. now owns 560 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $115,000 after acquiring an additional 555 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Main Street Financial Solutions LLC increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 6.0% in the 2nd quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC now owns 4,398 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $900,000 after purchasing an additional 249 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have weighed in on PANW shares. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $255.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Guggenheim cut shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “neutral” rating to a “reduce” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $330.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus set a $340.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $220.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty have given a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $331.48.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $335.28 on Thursday. 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 $273.25 billion, a PE ratio of 274.82, a P/E/G ratio of 12.70 and a beta of 0.91. The business has a 50 day moving average of $297.43 and a 200 day moving average of $215.80. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52 week low of $139.57 and a 52 week high of $368.80.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, June 2nd. The network technology company reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $3 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 for the quarter was up 31.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $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. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Key Palo Alto Networks News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and commentators continue to highlight Palo Alto Networks as a key beneficiary of rising AI-driven cybersecurity spending, with Morgan Stanley saying sentiment on software stocks may be too negative and Barron’s arguing PANW could be a major winner in the new AI era. Article: Morgan Stanley Analysts Say Sentiment Has Gotten ‘Too Negative’ on Software Stocks. These Are Their Picks
• Positive Sentiment: Market watchers are also pointing to broader enterprise demand for cybersecurity as AI agents proliferate, which could support future security product spending and reinforce PANW’s growth narrative. Article: Citi Wealth CIO Warns “Infinite AI Agents” Will Accelerate Cybersecurity’s Share of Enterprise Spending
• Positive Sentiment: Palo Alto Networks announced it will acquire Embrace to extend its observability platform with Real User Monitoring and Synthetics, a move aimed at improving digital experience monitoring and AI-driven operations. Investors may see this as an expansion into a higher-value adjacent market. Article: Palo Alto Networks to Extend Leading Observability Platform with Innovative Digital Experience Monitoring
• Neutral Sentiment: Another brief note flagged PANW as a cybersecurity stock to follow, but did not add any new catalyst beyond the broader sector interest. Article: Cybersecurity Stocks To Follow Now – July 20th
• Negative Sentiment: Despite the upbeat long-term themes, one article noted PANW had slipped intraday, suggesting some investors are still taking profits or reacting to overall software sector weakness. Article: Palo Alto slips 3%: Why this analyst still sees it as a top cyber pick

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 900 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $345.00, for a total transaction of $310,500.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 79,644 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $27,477,180. The trade was a 1.12% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at $42,058,590. This represents a 3.33% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 101,239 shares of company stock worth $27,174,360. 1.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.