Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW Shares Sold by Essential Partners LLC

Essential Partners LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 27.4% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 4,148 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 1,562 shares during the quarter. Essential Partners LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $665,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of PANW. Darwin Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Steph & Co. raised 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 worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares during the period. Knuff & Co LLC bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Sittner & Nelson LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 73.8% in the 4th quarter. Sittner & Nelson LLC now owns 146 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Luken Investment Analytics LLC boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 196.2% during the 4th quarter. Luken Investment Analytics LLC now owns 154 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 102 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Palo Alto Networks news, Director Helle Thorning-Schmidt sold 700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $346.85, for a total value of $242,795.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 5,898 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,045,721.30. This represents a 10.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 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 sale, 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 a total of 101,239 shares of company stock valued at $27,174,360 in the last ninety days. 1.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PANW has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Tigress Financial upped their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $245.00 to $430.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. UBS Group set a $300.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $325.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 1st. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $345.00 price objective (up from $265.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $330.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty have given a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $331.48.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PANW opened at $325.68 on Friday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a twelve month low of $139.57 and a twelve month high of $368.80. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The company has a market capitalization of $265.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 266.95, a PEG ratio of 11.66 and a beta of 0.91. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $306.57 and a two-hundred day moving average of $221.46.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, June 2nd. The network technology company reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 company 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 company posted $0.37 EPS. 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. As a group, analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.