Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW Stock Holdings Increased by Sterling Capital Management LLC

Sterling Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 10.9% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 31,839 shares of the network technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,134 shares during the quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $5,104,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of PANW. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 4.1% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 67,929,063 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $12,512,533,000 after purchasing an additional 2,659,100 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 30,331,705 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $5,587,100,000 after buying an additional 594,789 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 11.9% during the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 19,375,486 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $3,568,964,000 after buying an additional 2,065,776 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 3.5% during 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 buying an additional 540,756 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 4th quarter worth about $1,415,364,000. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, Director John P. Key sold 7,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $279.24, for a total transaction of $2,094,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 12,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,490,500. This represents a 37.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director James J. Goetz sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the director owned 20,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,598,000. This trade represents a 50.00% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 106,389 shares of company stock valued at $27,570,630 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 3.8%

PANW stock opened at $304.20 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $247.92 billion, a PE ratio of 249.34, a P/E/G ratio of 11.30 and a beta of 0.94. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12 month low of $139.57 and a 12 month high of $306.24. 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 firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $241.22 and a 200 day simple moving average of $196.11.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly 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. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 10.53% and a net margin of 7.95%.The company had revenue of $3 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.94 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.37 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 31.1% on a year-over-year basis. 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 research analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently issued reports on PANW. Susquehanna reiterated a “positive” rating and issued a $350.00 price objective (up from $200.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Wedbush boosted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $300.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Cantor Fitzgerald set a $340.00 target price on Palo Alto Networks and gave the stock an “overweight” 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 company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, June 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-eight have given a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price 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.