Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW Shares Bought by Wellspring Financial Advisors LLC

Wellspring Financial Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 481.6% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 4,862 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,026 shares during the quarter. Wellspring Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $931,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. J.Safra Asset Management Corp acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $40,000. GWN Securities Inc. lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 6.1% during the fourth quarter. GWN Securities Inc. now owns 1,224 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $226,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 8.1% during the fourth quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 356,916 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $65,744,000 after purchasing an additional 26,702 shares during the last quarter. Wills Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Wills Financial Group LLC now owns 48,482 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $8,930,000 after purchasing an additional 1,188 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GFS Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 34.5% during the fourth quarter. GFS Advisors LLC now owns 9,585 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,766,000 after purchasing an additional 2,460 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PANW has been the subject of several recent research reports. HSBC increased their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $114.00 to $207.00 in a research note on Thursday, June 4th. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $330.00 price objective (up from $255.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Argus increased their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $222.00 to $320.00 in a research report on Friday, June 5th. Guggenheim lowered shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “neutral” rating to a “reduce” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $320.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-seven have given a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $306.59.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 62,904 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $258.65, for a total value of $16,270,119.60. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 235,983 shares in the company, valued at $61,037,002.95. This trade represents a 21.05% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora purchased 68,085 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 27th. The stock was bought at an average price of $146.87 per share, for a total transaction of $9,999,643.95. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 343,394 shares in the company, valued at approximately $50,434,276.78. The trade was a 24.73% increase in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 72,076 shares of company stock worth $17,930,587. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of PANW opened at $263.22 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $214.52 billion, a PE ratio of 215.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 9.67 and a beta of 0.94. 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 current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.86. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $211.67 and its 200 day moving average price is $187.90.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, June 2nd. The network technology company reported $0.85 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 net margin of 7.95% and a return on equity of 10.53%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 31.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $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. As a group, analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.03 earnings per share for the current year.

More Palo Alto Networks News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Zacks highlighted rapid adoption of Prisma AIRS, saying customer growth and larger AI security deals are boosting Palo Alto Networks’ revenue potential and may be becoming a major growth engine. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Scotiabank raised its FY2027 EPS estimate for Palo Alto Networks and kept a bullish view with a $320 price target, signaling confidence in the company’s longer-term earnings power.
• Positive Sentiment: Recent commentary across cybersecurity names suggests AI-driven security demand is becoming a stronger investment theme, which could help sentiment toward PANW as it expands into protecting AI agents and workloads.
• Neutral Sentiment: Northland Securities maintained a “Market Perform” rating and $302 target while updating several forward EPS estimates, indicating a neutral stance rather than a strong bullish or bearish call.
• Neutral Sentiment: Short-interest data showed no meaningful change, so it does not appear to be a major driver of the stock right now.
• Negative Sentiment: Northland cut its FY2026 and FY2027 EPS estimates for Palo Alto Networks, which could weigh on the stock if investors worry that earnings growth may be moderating.
• Negative Sentiment: Scotiabank also trimmed its FY2026 EPS estimate slightly, showing that while analysts remain constructive, near-term profit expectations are not uniformly improving.

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.