Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. Sells 13,886 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. lowered its stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 6.1% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 212,179 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 13,886 shares during the period. Palo Alto Networks makes up approximately 1.0% of Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 24th biggest position. Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $84,301,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Heartwood Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. Heartwood Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 6,039 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $2,399,000 after buying an additional 95 shares during the period. Silverleafe Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $572,000. Miller Global Investments LLC boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 406.7% during the 3rd quarter. Miller Global Investments LLC now owns 456 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $181,000 after acquiring an additional 366 shares in the last quarter. First Citizens Financial Corp increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 8.7% in the third quarter. First Citizens Financial Corp now owns 688 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $273,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Polaris Financial Partners acquired a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the third quarter valued at approximately $3,476,000. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 0.6%

NASDAQ PANW traded up $2.35 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $405.59. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,364,888 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,310,553. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $362.05 and a 200-day simple moving average of $285.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.87. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52 week low of $139.57 and a 52 week high of $409.50. The stock has a market cap of $331.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 795.29, a P/E/G ratio of 11.61 and a beta of 0.93.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, September 1st. The network technology company reported $1.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.98 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $3.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.35 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 2.67% and a return on equity of 8.50%. The company’s revenue was up 34.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.95 EPS. 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. Equities analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 27,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $391.60, for a total value of $10,769,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 117,750 shares in the company, valued at approximately $46,110,900. The trade was a 18.93% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director John P. Key sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $376.03, for a total value of $940,075.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 10,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,760,300. This trade represents a 20.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders sold 54,260 shares of company stock worth $20,804,474. 1.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have weighed in on PANW. Scotiabank cut Palo Alto Networks from a “sector outperform” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 2nd. Argus restated a “buy” rating and set a $425.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Thursday, September 3rd. Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Monday, August 31st. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday, September 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $326.00 to $384.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 25th. Thirty-eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $391.32.

About Palo Alto Networks

Palo Alto Networks, Inc is a cybersecurity company that provides solutions designed to help organizations protect networks, endpoints, cloud environments, applications and users from cyber threats. Its offerings include next-generation firewalls, cloud-delivered security services, secure access service edge (SASE) solutions, endpoint protection and security operations tools.

The company also provides platforms and services for cloud security, threat intelligence, incident response, vulnerability management and the automation of security operations.