Leonteq Securities AG Buys New Stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Leonteq Securities AG bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund bought 32,618 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,008,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 39.7% during the third quarter. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 176 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the period. Harold Davidson & Associates Inc. increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 5.0% in the third quarter. Harold Davidson & Associates Inc. now owns 1,056 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $215,000 after buying an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Princeton Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 3.4% in the third quarter. Princeton Capital Management LLC now owns 1,520 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $310,000 after buying an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. South Plains Financial Inc. increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 1.0% in the third quarter. South Plains Financial Inc. now owns 4,823 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $982,000 after buying an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fayez Sarofim & Co increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 1.2% in the third quarter. Fayez Sarofim & Co now owns 4,310 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $878,000 after buying an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have weighed in on PANW shares. UBS Group set a $183.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, February 19th. Capital One Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $168.00 to $248.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $285.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $265.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, May 14th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $240.00 to $220.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-five have given a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $225.16.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, Director James J. Goetz sold 22,684 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $164.41, for a total transaction of $3,729,476.44. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 52,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,631,525. The trade was a 30.17% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 1,100 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $161.40, for a total transaction of $177,540.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 83,136 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,418,150.40. This represents a 1.31% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 30,356 shares of company stock valued at $4,981,575. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Key Headlines Impacting Palo Alto Networks

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

• Positive Sentiment: BMO Capital Markets raised its price target on Palo Alto Networks to $270 from $200 and kept an outperform rating, signaling confidence that the stock can continue higher. MarketScreener
• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley increased its target to $253 from $223 and maintained an overweight rating, adding to the cluster of bullish analyst calls. MarketScreener
• Positive Sentiment: Stifel Nicolaus boosted its target to $275 from $185 and reiterated a buy rating, reinforcing expectations for further upside in PANW shares. The Fly
• Positive Sentiment: Truist Financial also raised its price target to $275 from $200 and kept a buy rating, indicating broad analyst enthusiasm for Palo Alto Networks’ growth outlook. MarketScreener
• Neutral Sentiment: Commentary about AI reshaping cybersecurity and articles highlighting PANW as a cybersecurity stock to watch support the long-term theme, but they do not appear to be immediate stock-moving catalysts. ETF Trends

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 2.7%

PANW stock opened at $246.66 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $201.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 136.28, a P/E/G ratio of 8.66 and a beta of 0.77. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $179.63 and a 200-day simple moving average of $181.54. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52 week low of $139.57 and a 52 week high of $250.00.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 18th. The network technology company reported $1.03 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.94 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $2.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.58 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 12.96% and a return on equity of 17.60%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 14.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.81 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.14 earnings per share for the current year.

About Palo Alto Networks

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.