Nixon Peabody Trust Co. Buys 32,512 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Nixon Peabody Trust Co. lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 28.8% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 145,434 shares of the network technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 32,512 shares during the quarter. Palo Alto Networks accounts for about 1.9% of Nixon Peabody Trust Co.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th largest holding. Nixon Peabody Trust Co.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $23,316,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Darwin Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Knuff & Co LLC bought a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Steph & Co. boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 88.2% during the 4th quarter. Steph & Co. now owns 143 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. Sittner & Nelson LLC grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 73.8% in the fourth quarter. Sittner & Nelson LLC now owns 146 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. Finally, WHI TRUST Co LLC purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 1,100 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $285.08, for a total value of $313,588.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 81,636 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,272,790.88. This represents a 1.33% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 62,904 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $258.65, for a total transaction of $16,270,119.60. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 235,983 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $61,037,002.95. The trade was a 21.05% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 102,111 shares of company stock worth $27,204,024 in the last three months. 1.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of PANW opened at $348.06 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The business has a fifty day moving average of $258.43 and a 200 day moving average of $201.39. The company has a market cap of $283.67 billion, a PE ratio of 285.30, a P/E/G ratio of 12.92 and a beta of 0.91. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52-week low of $139.57 and a 52-week high of $358.10.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, June 2nd. The network technology company reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79 by $0.06. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 7.95% and a return on equity of 10.53%. The business had revenue of $3 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.94 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.37 earnings per share. 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. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.03 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently issued reports on PANW. Wedbush upped their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $300.00 to $340.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. DA Davidson lifted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $190.00 to $345.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday, June 16th. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $345.00 target price (up from $265.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $253.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have assigned a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $316.15.

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.