Whalerock Point Partners LLC Grows Holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Whalerock Point Partners LLC boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 10.6% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 36,093 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,450 shares during the period. Palo Alto Networks comprises 1.5% of Whalerock Point Partners LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 14th biggest position. Whalerock Point Partners LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $7,349,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter valued at approximately $675,865,000. ABN AMRO Bank N.V. purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter worth $340,883,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 2.0% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 65,269,963 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $13,290,270,000 after purchasing an additional 1,253,589 shares during the last quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 97.9% in the 2nd quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 2,104,939 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $430,755,000 after purchasing an additional 1,041,145 shares during the period. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 3,881.4% during the 3rd quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 721,157 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $146,842,000 after purchasing an additional 703,044 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on PANW shares. Citigroup restated a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 price target (down from $235.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Citizens Jmp reissued a “market outperform” rating and set a $250.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Westpark Capital restated a “hold” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. Finally, TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have given a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $211.62.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of PANW opened at $149.40 on Friday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52-week low of $139.57 and a 52-week high of $223.61. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $175.36 and its 200 day simple moving average is $190.82. The stock has a market capitalization of $121.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 82.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.23 and a beta of 0.75.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 17th. The network technology company reported $1.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.94 by $0.09. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 17.60% and a net margin of 12.96%.The firm had revenue of $2.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.58 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.81 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 14.9% on a year-over-year basis. Palo Alto Networks has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.650-3.700 EPS and its Q3 2026 guidance at 0.780-0.800 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,768 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $191.03, for a total value of $23,070,311.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 298,887 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $57,096,383.61. This trade represents a 28.78% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director James J. Goetz sold 12,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $195.33, for a total transaction of $2,441,625.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 75,184 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,685,690.72. This trade represents a 14.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 260,542 shares of company stock valued at $49,910,995. 1.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.