Rational Advisors Inc. Sells 3,633 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Rational Advisors Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 72.0% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 1,416 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 3,633 shares during the quarter. Rational Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $483,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Darwin Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the second quarter valued at about $25,000. Knuff & Co LLC purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Solstein Capital LLC bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Sittner & Nelson LLC boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 73.8% during the 4th quarter. Sittner & Nelson LLC now owns 146 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. Finally, N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $27,000. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $289.56, for a total value 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 $42,058,590. The trade was a 3.33% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director James J. Goetz sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $279.90, for a total value of $5,598,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 20,000 shares in the company, valued at $5,598,000. This trade represents a 50.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 38,835 shares of company stock valued at $11,127,854 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Key Palo Alto Networks News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Benchmark raised its price target to $400 from $340 and maintained a Buy rating, citing potential upside to next-generation security annual recurring revenue, revenue, operating income and margins. The forecast reinforces expectations that Palo Alto Networks’ AI-security strategy is gaining traction. Palo Alto Networks Gets a $400 Target
• Positive Sentiment: Investors are taking confidence from CrowdStrike’s stronger-than-expected results, which highlighted robust AI-related cybersecurity demand and lifted sentiment across the sector. Palo Alto Networks is viewed as a potential beneficiary of the same spending cycle. Palo Alto Networks Stock Trades Up
• Positive Sentiment: Platformization, adoption of AI-security products and recent deal wins are expected to support fourth-quarter growth. BTIG also assigned PANW a Buy rating, adding to broadly favorable analyst coverage. Palo Alto Networks to Report Q4 Earnings
• Neutral Sentiment: Earnings are the next major catalyst. Traders expect potentially significant movement after the report, while analysts are watching recurring revenue, margins, operating income and guidance—not just revenue and EPS. Expected Post-Earnings Stock Move
• Negative Sentiment: Acquisition-related costs could pressure results, and the stock’s triple-digit P/E ratio—above 300 based on the supplied data—means much of the AI-growth outlook may already be reflected in the price. Any shortfall in growth or guidance could trigger profit-taking. Palo Alto’s Rally Has One Big Problem Ahead of Earnings
• Negative Sentiment: Chief Accounting Officer Josh D. Paul sold 900 shares for approximately $318,000, reducing his position by 1.21%. The transaction is small relative to his remaining holdings but may create a modest sentiment headwind. Palo Alto Networks Insider Sale

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

PANW opened at $371.59 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $302.85 billion, a PE ratio of 304.58, a P/E/G ratio of 11.74 and a beta of 0.91. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $344.62 and a 200-day moving average price of $248.45. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1 year low of $139.57 and a 1 year high of $398.88. 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 released its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $3 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.94 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 7.95% and a return on equity of 10.53%. Palo Alto Networks’s revenue was up 31.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $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. Sell-side analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on PANW. Needham & Company LLC raised their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $350.00 to $425.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. FBN Securities reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. Stephens boosted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $180.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Robert W. Baird set a $320.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Finally, Wedbush increased their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $300.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty have issued a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $368.42.

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.