15,000 Shares in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW Acquired by Encore Global Management LP

Encore Global Management LP purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm purchased 15,000 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,115,000. Palo Alto Networks comprises 5.0% of Encore Global Management LP’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest position.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Brighton Jones LLC increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 147.7% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,761 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,230,000 after buying an additional 4,031 shares during the period. Bison Wealth LLC lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 169.1% in the fourth quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 5,212 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $948,000 after buying an additional 3,275 shares during the period. Sivia Capital Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 66.3% in the 2nd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 3,484 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $713,000 after buying an additional 1,389 shares during the period. Osterweis Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 11,100.0% during the second quarter. Osterweis Capital Management Inc. now owns 560 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $115,000 after acquiring an additional 555 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Main Street Financial Solutions LLC lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 6.0% during the 2nd quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC now owns 4,398 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $900,000 after acquiring an additional 249 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on PANW. Arete Research raised their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $185.00 to $433.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, June 29th. Citigroup reiterated a “market outperform” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, August 12th. Guggenheim downgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “neutral” rating to a “reduce” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 27th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $220.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Finally, Truist Financial set a $435.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty have issued a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $362.67.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $358.04 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 0.86. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52-week low of $139.57 and a 52-week high of $398.88. The company has a fifty day moving average of $337.38 and a 200-day moving average of $241.72. The stock has a market capitalization of $291.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 293.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 11.74 and a beta of 0.91.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, June 2nd. The network technology company reported $0.85 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $3 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.94 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 7.95% and a return on equity of 10.53%. The firm’s revenue was up 31.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last 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 research analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.02 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 145,250 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $42,058,590. The trade was a 3.33% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director John P. Key sold 7,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $279.24, for a total value of $2,094,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 12,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,490,500. This trade represents a 37.50% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 37,935 shares of company stock valued at $10,809,461. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.