Franklin Resources Inc. Sells 1,057,032 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Franklin Resources Inc. decreased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 26.2% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 2,980,288 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 1,057,032 shares during the quarter. Franklin Resources Inc.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $548,969,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 4.1% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 67,929,063 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $12,512,533,000 after buying an additional 2,659,100 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.7% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 29,736,916 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $6,055,031,000 after acquiring an additional 505,924 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,989,257 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $2,934,935,000 after acquiring an additional 540,756 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,415,364,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 0.5% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,528,248 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,532,902,000 after purchasing an additional 36,511 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 2.1%

NASDAQ PANW opened at $266.33 on Tuesday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a one year low of $139.57 and a one year high of $302.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 0.86. The company has a market capitalization of $217.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 218.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 9.55 and a beta of 0.94. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $207.23 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $186.93.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, June 2nd. The network technology company reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.06. The firm 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%.The firm’s revenue was up 31.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm 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. Equities analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.42, for a total transaction of $802,100.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 150,250 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,103,105. This trade represents a 3.22% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director John P. Key sold 1,572 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.32, for a total value of $272,459.04. Following the transaction, the director owned 20,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,466,400. The trade was a 7.29% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders sold 72,076 shares of company stock worth $17,930,587. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on PANW. Jefferies Financial Group set a $335.00 price target on Palo Alto Networks and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Rosenblatt Securities raised their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $275.00 to $355.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Citigroup restated a “market outperform” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Northland Securities raised their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $190.00 to $302.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Finally, Arete Research raised shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “sell” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $185.00 price target for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 3rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-seven have issued a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $306.59.

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.