M.D. Sass LLC Has $8.10 Million Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

M.D. Sass LLC lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 39.4% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 50,516 shares of the network technology company’s stock after buying an additional 14,288 shares during the period. Palo Alto Networks comprises 0.6% of M.D. Sass LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 25th biggest holding. M.D. Sass LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $8,099,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Darwin Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Steph & Co. grew its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 67 shares in the last quarter. Knuff & Co LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Sittner & Nelson LLC increased its position 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 purchasing an additional 62 shares during the period. Finally, Luken Investment Analytics LLC increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 196.2% during the fourth quarter. Luken Investment Analytics LLC now owns 154 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 102 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Helle Thorning-Schmidt sold 700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $346.85, for a total value of $242,795.00. Following the sale, the director owned 5,898 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,045,721.30. This represents a 10.61% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $289.56, for a total transaction of $1,447,800.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 145,250 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $42,058,590. This trade represents a 3.33% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 101,239 shares of company stock worth $27,174,360 in the last three months. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $325.63 on Friday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $299.17 and a 200 day simple moving average of $216.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.86. The company has a market capitalization of $265.39 billion, a PE ratio of 266.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 12.45 and a beta of 0.91. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a one year low of $139.57 and a one year high of $368.80.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, June 2nd. The network technology company reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79 by $0.06. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 10.53% and a net margin of 7.95%.The firm had revenue of $3 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.94 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.37 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 31.1% compared to the same quarter last year. 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, sell-side analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. BNP Paribas Exane upped their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $330.00 to $380.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 1st. Jefferies Financial Group set a $335.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. HSBC boosted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $114.00 to $207.00 in a report on Thursday, June 4th. Rosenblatt Securities increased their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $275.00 to $355.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $387.00 price objective (up from $320.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty have assigned a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $331.48.

Palo Alto Networks 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.