1,428 Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW Shares Sold by Welch Group LLC

Welch Group LLC decreased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 50,104 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 1,428 shares during the quarter. Welch Group LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $19,907,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Trek Financial LLC increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1,908.8% in the third quarter. Trek Financial LLC now owns 13,238 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $5,260,000 after purchasing an additional 12,579 shares during the last quarter. Nippon Life Global Investors Americas Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 265.3% in the 3rd quarter. Nippon Life Global Investors Americas Inc. now owns 17,060 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $6,778,000 after purchasing an additional 12,390 shares in the last quarter. Verus Financial Partners Inc. raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 4.3% during the third quarter. Verus Financial Partners Inc. now owns 632 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $251,000 after acquiring an additional 26 shares in the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $248,425,000. Finally, Stevens Capital Partners bought a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 3rd quarter valued at $270,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the company. Guggenheim restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Wedbush started coverage on Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Friday, September 11th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $400.00 target price for the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $430.00 price objective (up from $350.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, September 2nd. Scotiabank lowered Palo Alto Networks from a “sector outperform” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Finally, Argus restated a “buy” rating and issued a $425.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Thursday, September 3rd. Thirty-nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $398.55.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, Director John Key sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, September 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $376.03, for a total transaction of $940,075.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 10,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,760,300. This represents a 20.00% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 27,500 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $391.60, for a total value of $10,769,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 117,750 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $46,110,900. This trade represents a 18.93% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 54,210 shares of company stock valued at $20,823,029. 0.55% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

NASDAQ:PANW opened at $365.87 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. The stock has a market capitalization of $299.56 billion, a PE ratio of 717.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 10.49 and a beta of 0.96. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $372.15 and its 200 day moving average is $269.89. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12 month low of $139.57 and a 12 month high of $432.33.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, September 1st. The network technology company reported $1.02 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.98 by $0.04. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 8.50% and a net margin of 2.67%. The business had revenue of $3.41 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.35 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.95 earnings per share. Palo Alto Networks’s revenue for the quarter was up 34.5% on a year-over-year basis. Palo Alto Networks has set its FY 2027 guidance at 4.160-4.190 EPS and its Q1 2027 guidance at 0.960-0.980 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Palo Alto Networks Company Profile

Palo Alto Networks, Inc (NASDAQ:PANW) is a global cybersecurity company that helps organizations protect networks, cloud environments, endpoints, and digital infrastructure. Its offerings are designed to prevent cyberattacks, identify security risks, monitor activity, and support incident response across enterprise, government, and service-provider environments.

The company’s portfolio includes network security products such as next-generation firewalls and security operations tools; Prisma, its cloud security platform; and Cortex, a suite focused on endpoint protection, threat detection, security analytics, and automated response.