Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. Acquires Shares of 80,781 Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. bought a new position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 80,781 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $27,548,000. Palo Alto Networks makes up approximately 0.5% of Sumitomo Life Insurance Co.’s portfolio, making the stock its 17th biggest holding.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of PANW. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 15.0% during the 1st quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 410,401 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $65,796,000 after purchasing an additional 53,485 shares during the last quarter. Aviva PLC increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 5.4% in the 4th quarter. Aviva PLC now owns 568,804 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $104,774,000 after purchasing an additional 29,230 shares in the last quarter. B&D White Capital Company LLC purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the first quarter worth $353,000. Bridgewater Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter worth $2,159,000. Finally, Granite Islands Private Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 43.6% during the first quarter. Granite Islands Private Wealth LLC now owns 15,342 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $2,453,000 after purchasing an additional 4,659 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

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 transaction of $242,795.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 5,898 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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 this link. Also, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 145,250 shares in the company, valued at approximately $42,058,590. The trade was a 3.33% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 37,935 shares of company stock worth $10,809,461. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of PANW opened at $358.04 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $291.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 293.48, a PEG ratio of 11.74 and a beta of 0.91. 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, Inc. has a one year low of $139.57 and a one year high of $398.88. The business has a fifty day moving average of $337.38 and a 200 day moving average of $241.72.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its 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. The company had revenue of $3 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.94 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 10.53% and a net margin of 7.95%.Palo Alto Networks’s revenue was up 31.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $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, sell-side analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.02 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PANW has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $330.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Loop Capital boosted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $160.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 4th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $434.00 price target (up from $330.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Friday, August 14th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group set a $335.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty have assigned a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $362.67.

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.