First Trust Advisors LP Raises Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

First Trust Advisors LP increased its position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 4.4% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 6,466,118 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 273,103 shares during the period. Palo Alto Networks accounts for 0.7% of First Trust Advisors LP’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest holding. First Trust Advisors LP’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $1,036,648,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PANW. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC increased its position in Palo Alto Networks by 15.0% in the first quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 410,401 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $65,796,000 after purchasing an additional 53,485 shares during the last quarter. Aviva PLC lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 5.4% during the fourth quarter. Aviva PLC now owns 568,804 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $104,774,000 after purchasing an additional 29,230 shares during the last quarter. Granite Islands Private Wealth LLC lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 43.6% during the first quarter. Granite Islands Private Wealth LLC now owns 15,342 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $2,453,000 after purchasing an additional 4,659 shares during the last quarter. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 8.8% in the 4th quarter. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp now owns 48,458 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $8,926,000 after buying an additional 3,926 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Oak Thistle LLC purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 4th quarter worth $1,554,000. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 1.9%

NASDAQ:PANW opened at $342.15 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $295.28 and a 200-day simple moving average of $214.74. 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 firm has a market cap of $278.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 280.45, a P/E/G ratio of 12.95 and a beta of 0.91. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a one year low of $139.57 and a one year high of $368.80.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, June 2nd. The network technology company reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79 by $0.06. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 10.53% and a net margin of 7.95%.The business had revenue of $3 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.94 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.37 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 31.1% compared to the same quarter last year. 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 anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on PANW. Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $275.00 to $375.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $255.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Needham & Company LLC boosted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $350.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $335.00 price objective on Palo Alto Networks and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald set a $340.00 target price on Palo Alto Networks and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty have assigned a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $331.48.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, Director James J. Goetz sold 20,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $279.90, for a total value of $5,598,000.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 20,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,598,000. The trade was a 50.00% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 900 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $345.00, for a total transaction of $310,500.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 79,644 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $27,477,180. The trade was a 1.12% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders sold 101,239 shares of company stock valued at $27,174,360. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Key Palo Alto Networks News

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

• Positive Sentiment: J.P. Morgan-style rotation into cybersecurity is showing up in the news flow, with multiple commentators arguing that AI-driven security demand should benefit PANW as enterprises spend more to protect themselves from increasingly powerful AI tools. Why Palo Alto Stock Can Be a Big Winner in Cybersecurity’s New AI Era
• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley said sentiment on software stocks has become “too negative,” and named high-profile names like PANW as potential rebound candidates if investors rotate back into quality software leaders. Morgan Stanley Analysts Say Sentiment Has Gotten ‘Too Negative’ on Software Stocks. These Are Their Picks
• Positive Sentiment: Citi Wealth’s CIO highlighted cybersecurity as a favored theme, saying “infinite AI agents” could drive more enterprise spending on security, which reinforces the bull case for PANW. Citi Wealth CIO Warns “Infinite AI Agents” Will Accelerate Cybersecurity’s Share of Enterprise Spending
• Positive Sentiment: Palo Alto Networks announced it intends to acquire Embrace to expand its observability platform with digital experience monitoring, adding real-user monitoring and synthetics tools that could broaden its product offering and deepen customer value. Palo Alto Networks to Extend Leading Observability Platform with Innovative Digital Experience Monitoring
• Neutral Sentiment: One market note said PANW had slipped recently alongside broader software weakness, suggesting investor caution may still be weighing on the shares. Palo Alto Networks (PANW) Sees a More Significant Dip Than Broader Market: Some Facts to Know

Palo Alto Networks 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.