Rational Advisors Inc. Reduces Stock Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Rational Advisors Inc. trimmed its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 72.0% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,416 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 3,633 shares during the quarter. Rational Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $483,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Hennessy Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter valued at about $250,000. Sheets Smith Wealth Management grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 44.3% during the second quarter. Sheets Smith Wealth Management now owns 19,881 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $6,780,000 after purchasing an additional 6,107 shares in the last quarter. Greenleaf Trust increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 4.3% in the second quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 17,345 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $5,915,000 after purchasing an additional 722 shares during the last quarter. Trustmark Bank Trust Department purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter valued at approximately $307,000. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 8.7% in the second quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 8,778,963 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $2,993,802,000 after purchasing an additional 706,003 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have commented on PANW shares. Berenberg Bank boosted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $290.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. FBN Securities reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $415.00 price objective (up from $335.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, August 20th. Guggenheim lowered Palo Alto Networks from a “neutral” rating to a “reduce” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 27th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $330.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty have given a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $368.42.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Palo Alto Networks news, Director John P. Key sold 7,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 12th. The stock was 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 owned 12,500 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,490,500. The trade was a 37.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Helle Thorning-Schmidt sold 700 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $346.85, for a total value of $242,795.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 5,898 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,045,721.30. This trade represents a 10.61% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 38,835 shares of company stock worth $11,127,854. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Key Stories Impacting Palo Alto Networks

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

• Positive Sentiment: Benchmark raised its price target to $400 from $340 and maintained a Buy rating, citing potential upside to next-generation security annual recurring revenue, revenue, operating income and margins. The forecast reinforces expectations that Palo Alto Networks’ AI-security strategy is gaining traction. Palo Alto Networks Gets a $400 Target
• Positive Sentiment: Investors are taking confidence from CrowdStrike’s stronger-than-expected results, which highlighted robust AI-related cybersecurity demand and lifted sentiment across the sector. Palo Alto Networks is viewed as a potential beneficiary of the same spending cycle. Palo Alto Networks Stock Trades Up
• Positive Sentiment: Platformization, adoption of AI-security products and recent deal wins are expected to support fourth-quarter growth. BTIG also assigned PANW a Buy rating, adding to broadly favorable analyst coverage. Palo Alto Networks to Report Q4 Earnings
• Neutral Sentiment: Earnings are the next major catalyst. Traders expect potentially significant movement after the report, while analysts are watching recurring revenue, margins, operating income and guidance—not just revenue and EPS. Expected Post-Earnings Stock Move
• Negative Sentiment: Acquisition-related costs could pressure results, and the stock’s triple-digit P/E ratio—above 300 based on the supplied data—means much of the AI-growth outlook may already be reflected in the price. Any shortfall in growth or guidance could trigger profit-taking. Palo Alto’s Rally Has One Big Problem Ahead of Earnings
• Negative Sentiment: Chief Accounting Officer Josh D. Paul sold 900 shares for approximately $318,000, reducing his position by 1.21%. The transaction is small relative to his remaining holdings but may create a modest sentiment headwind. Palo Alto Networks Insider Sale

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

NASDAQ PANW opened at $371.59 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $344.62 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $248.45. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12-month low of $139.57 and a 12-month high of $398.88. The firm has a market cap of $302.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 304.58, a PEG ratio of 11.74 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, June 2nd. The network technology company reported $0.85 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.06. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 10.53% and a net margin of 7.95%.The firm had revenue of $3 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.94 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.37 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 31.1% on a year-over-year basis. 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, equities analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.01 EPS 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.