Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC Sells 7,561 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC lessened its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 22.2% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 26,451 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 7,561 shares during the period. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $10,509,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in PANW. Confluence Wealth Services Inc. raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 49.5% in the third quarter. Confluence Wealth Services Inc. now owns 3,583 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,424,000 after buying an additional 1,186 shares during the period. AMG National Trust Bank lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 22.8% during the 3rd quarter. AMG National Trust Bank now owns 2,656 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,055,000 after buying an additional 494 shares during the last quarter. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. now owns 9,063 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $3,601,000 after buying an additional 154 shares during the last quarter. Keybank National Association OH grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 4.2% during the 3rd quarter. Keybank National Association OH now owns 45,589 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $18,113,000 after acquiring an additional 1,838 shares during the period. Finally, Triton Wealth Management PLLC grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 16.7% during the 3rd quarter. Triton Wealth Management PLLC now owns 1,019 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $405,000 after acquiring an additional 146 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently weighed in on PANW. HSBC decreased their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $201.00 to $190.00 in a report on Thursday, September 3rd. Stephens set a $400.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $430.00 target price (up from $350.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $450.00 target price (up from $335.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Friday, August 28th. Finally, Tigress Financial lifted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $245.00 to $430.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. Thirty-nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $398.55.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, CAO Josh Paul sold 900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at $27,085,821.12. This represents a 1.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director James Goetz sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $376.68, for a total transaction of $7,533,600.00. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 54,210 shares of company stock worth $20,823,029. 0.55% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PANW opened at $326.36 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $267.21 billion, a PE ratio of 639.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 9.49 and a beta of 0.96. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $139.57 and a fifty-two week high of $432.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a current ratio of 0.87. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $368.37 and a 200-day moving average of $275.05.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, September 1st. The network technology company reported $1.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $3.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.35 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 8.50% and a net margin of 2.67%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 34.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous 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 research analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.32 earnings per share for the current year.

About Palo Alto Networks

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. is a cybersecurity company that provides products and services to help organizations protect their networks, cloud environments, devices and applications. Its offerings include next-generation firewalls, cloud security tools, secure access services and platforms for detecting and responding to cyber threats. The company’s product portfolio includes Prisma for cloud and network security and Cortex for security operations, including threat detection and response. It also provides cybersecurity consulting and incident-response services through Unit 42.