Morningstar Investment Management LLC Boosts Stock Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Morningstar Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 112.0% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 18,171 shares of the network technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 9,599 shares during the quarter. Morningstar Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $2,913,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,415,364,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 4.1% during the 4th 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 during the period. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1,665.1% during the 1st quarter. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. now owns 2,761,909 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $442,788,000 after buying an additional 2,605,433 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its stake in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Employees Provident Fund Board bought a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the 4th quarter worth $281,542,000. 79.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $323.79 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $263.89 billion, a PE ratio of 265.40, a PEG ratio of 12.02 and a beta of 0.91. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $300.79 and a 200 day moving average of $217.58. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12 month low of $139.57 and a 12 month high of $368.80.

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

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $289.56, for a total value of $1,447,800.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 145,250 shares in the company, valued at approximately $42,058,590. The trade was a 3.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director John P. Key sold 7,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $279.24, for a total transaction of $2,094,300.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 12,500 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,490,500. The trade was a 37.50% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 101,239 shares of company stock valued at $27,174,360 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have commented on PANW. Argus set a $425.00 price target on Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday. Berenberg Bank upped their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $290.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Northland Securities increased their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $190.00 to $302.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. BNP Paribas Exane lifted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $330.00 to $380.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 1st. Finally, BTIG Research boosted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $333.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty have assigned a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $331.48.

About Palo Alto Networks

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.