Sanctuary Advisors LLC Cuts Stock Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Sanctuary Advisors LLC cut its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 1.4% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 191,337 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 2,719 shares during the quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $30,675,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of PANW. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC lifted its stake in shares of 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 valued at $65,796,000 after purchasing an additional 53,485 shares during the period. Aviva PLC grew 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 worth $104,774,000 after buying an additional 29,230 shares during the period. Granite Islands Private Wealth LLC increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 43.6% in 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 buying an additional 4,659 shares in the last quarter. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 8.8% in the fourth quarter. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp now owns 48,458 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $8,926,000 after buying an additional 3,926 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Oak Thistle LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,554,000. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Key Palo Alto Networks News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Tigress Financial raised its price target on Palo Alto Networks from $245 to $430 and reiterated a buy rating, signaling strong upside confidence in the stock. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Cybersecurity stocks, including PANW, are benefiting from reports that AI-driven security spending could support long-term growth as cyberattacks intensify. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: PANW also got a lift from a broader cybersecurity rally after IBM’s weak results and cybersecurity warning pushed investors toward security-focused software names. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Market commentary highlighted PANW as one of the cybersecurity stocks “riding the wave” from IBM’s earnings miss, reinforcing the sector-wide bid into defensive tech. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Commentary from Jim Cramer and other market-watch articles called Palo Alto Networks “unbelievable” and noted strong year-to-date gains, but these pieces were more sentiment-driven than fundamental catalysts. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: A Zacks comparison article argued Zscaler has an edge over PANW due to valuation and integration-cost concerns, but this appears to be a relative-valuation view rather than a direct negative catalyst. Article Title

Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 0.3%

Shares of PANW opened at $354.02 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.86. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1-year low of $139.57 and a 1-year high of $368.17. The stock has a market cap of $288.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 290.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 13.10 and a beta of 0.91. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $283.88 and a 200-day simple moving average of $210.11.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently commented on PANW. HSBC boosted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $114.00 to $207.00 in a research note on Thursday, June 4th. Benchmark lifted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $270.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Argus lifted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $222.00 to $320.00 in a report on Friday, June 5th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $325.00 to $420.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. Finally, Stephens raised their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $180.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine 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, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $323.98.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $289.56, for a total value of $1,447,800.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 145,250 shares in the company, valued at $42,058,590. This represents a 3.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 62,904 shares of the 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 approximately $61,037,002.95. The trade was a 21.05% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 101,239 shares of company stock valued at $27,174,360. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

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.