Erste Asset Management GmbH Acquires 30,793 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Erste Asset Management GmbH boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 12.2% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 283,832 shares of the network technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 30,793 shares during the period. Erste Asset Management GmbH’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $57,921,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in PANW. Klingman & Associates LLC raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. Klingman & Associates LLC now owns 2,131 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $434,000 after acquiring an additional 46 shares during the last quarter. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,742 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $558,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. Mattern Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter. Mattern Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,692 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $345,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. PTM Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 4.0% in the third quarter. PTM Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,300 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $276,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arlington Trust Co LLC raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 4.8% in the third quarter. Arlington Trust Co LLC now owns 1,088 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $222,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PANW has been the subject of several recent research reports. Scotiabank reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Needham & Company LLC dropped their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $230.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. HSBC cut their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $157.00 to $114.00 in a report on Thursday, February 19th. Daiwa Securities Group lowered their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $212.00 to $175.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $185.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have assigned a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $211.62.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

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

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 17th. The network technology company reported $1.03 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.94 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $2.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 revenue for the quarter was up 14.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.81 earnings per share. 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. As a group, research analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $191.91, for a total value of $23,177,738.34. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 327,645 shares in the company, valued at approximately $62,878,351.95. This represents a 26.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.81, for a total value of $147,848.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 46,005 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,502,184.05. This represents a 1.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 260,542 shares of company stock worth $49,910,995 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

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.