1,722 Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW Shares Sold by Sowell Financial Services LLC

Sowell Financial Services LLC lowered its holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 10.7% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 14,358 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 1,722 shares during the quarter. Sowell Financial Services LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $5,704,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter valued at approximately $25,833,462,000. Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,968,304,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,569,755,000. Deutsche Bank AG acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter valued at $1,481,236,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 16.0% in the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 22,476,753 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $3,603,473,000 after buying an additional 3,101,267 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 3.5%

Shares of Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $380.57 on Friday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12-month low of $139.57 and a 12-month high of $432.33. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. The stock has a market cap of $311.60 billion, a PE ratio of 746.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 11.31 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a 50-day moving average of $371.82 and a two-hundred day moving average of $269.01.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly 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. The business 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 company’s quarterly revenue was up 34.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $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. On average, research analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $395.70, for a total value of $158,280.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 77,987 shares in the company, valued at $30,859,455.90. This trade represents a 0.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 27,500 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 117,750 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $46,110,900. This trade represents a 18.93% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 54,210 shares of company stock valued at $20,823,029 in the last 90 days. 1.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $410.00 price target (up from $345.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, September 2nd. Mizuho set a $415.00 price objective on Palo Alto Networks and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 19th. Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $375.00 price objective (up from $370.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, September 2nd. HSBC cut their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $201.00 to $190.00 in a report on Thursday, September 3rd. Finally, Scotiabank cut shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “sector outperform” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Thirty-nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $398.55.

About Palo Alto Networks

Palo Alto Networks, Inc (NASDAQ:PANW) is a global cybersecurity company that helps organizations protect networks, cloud environments, endpoints, and digital infrastructure. Its offerings are designed to prevent cyberattacks, identify security risks, monitor activity, and support incident response across enterprise, government, and service-provider environments.

The company’s portfolio includes network security products such as next-generation firewalls and security operations tools; Prisma, its cloud security platform; and Cortex, a suite focused on endpoint protection, threat detection, security analytics, and automated response.