VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al Purchases New Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al acquired a new position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 37,617 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,828,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 15.0% in the 1st quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 410,401 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $65,796,000 after buying an additional 53,485 shares during the last quarter. Aviva PLC lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 5.4% during the 4th quarter. Aviva PLC now owns 568,804 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $104,774,000 after acquiring an additional 29,230 shares during the last quarter. B&D White Capital Company LLC acquired a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the 1st quarter worth $353,000. Bridgewater Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the second quarter valued at about $2,159,000. Finally, Granite Islands Private Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 43.6% during the first quarter. Granite Islands Private Wealth LLC now owns 15,342 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $2,453,000 after acquiring an additional 4,659 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of PANW stock opened at $333.26 on Tuesday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a one year low of $139.57 and a one year high of $398.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.86. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $350.21 and a 200 day moving average price of $256.64. The stock has a market cap of $271.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 653.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 9.62 and a beta of 0.91.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, September 1st. The network technology company reported $1.02 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.98 by $0.04. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 8.50% and a net margin of 2.67%.The business had revenue of $3.41 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.35 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.95 EPS. Palo Alto Networks’s revenue was up 34.5% on a year-over-year basis. Palo Alto Networks has set its FY 2027 guidance at 4.160-4.190 EPS and its Q1 2027 guidance at 0.960-0.980 EPS. Analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 145,250 shares in the company, valued at $42,058,590. The trade was a 3.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 900 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $373.68, for a total transaction of $336,312.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 72,484 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $27,085,821.12. The trade was a 1.23% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 38,635 shares of company stock worth $11,150,578 in the last three months. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on PANW. Scotiabank lowered Palo Alto Networks from a “sector outperform” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 2nd. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $425.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, September 2nd. Evercore restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Monday, August 31st. Argus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $425.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, September 3rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Tuesday, September 1st. Thirty-nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $385.67.

Palo Alto Networks Company 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.