Sapient Capital LLC Raises Holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Sapient Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 39.2% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 134,869 shares of the network technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 37,961 shares during the quarter. Palo Alto Networks makes up about 0.6% of Sapient Capital LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 23rd largest holding. Sapient Capital LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $45,993,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in PANW. Allied Private Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $38,000. Darwin Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Knuff & Co LLC purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Steph & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 88.2% in the fourth 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 period. Finally, Sittner & Nelson LLC boosted 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 acquiring an additional 62 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 1,100 shares of the firm’s 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 completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 81,636 shares in the company, valued at $23,272,790.88. This trade represents a 1.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 62,904 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 235,983 shares in the company, valued at $61,037,002.95. This represents a 21.05% 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 over the last ninety days. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on PANW shares. Mizuho lifted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $265.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus set a $340.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Northland Securities raised their price objective on shares of 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. UBS Group set a $300.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Finally, Susquehanna reaffirmed a “positive” rating and issued a $350.00 target price (up from $200.00) 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 assigned a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $333.76.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $363.86 on Monday. 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 business has a 50 day simple moving average of $317.88 and a 200-day simple moving average of $228.49. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12 month low of $139.57 and a 12 month high of $376.98. The stock has a market capitalization of $296.55 billion, a PE ratio of 298.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 12.21 and a beta of 0.91.

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. The firm had revenue of $3 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.94 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 7.95% and a return on equity of 10.53%. Palo Alto Networks’s quarterly revenue was up 31.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm 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. Equities analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.02 earnings per share for the current year.

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.