North Dallas Bank & Trust Co. Makes New Investment in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

North Dallas Bank & Trust Co. bought a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund bought 7,048 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,298,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of PANW. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 4.1% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 67,929,063 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $12,512,533,000 after buying an additional 2,659,100 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 29,736,916 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $6,055,031,000 after purchasing an additional 505,924 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,989,257 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $2,934,935,000 after acquiring an additional 540,756 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the fourth quarter worth $1,415,364,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 0.5% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,528,248 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,532,902,000 after acquiring an additional 36,511 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on PANW. Wedbush upped their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $300.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $325.00 target price (up from $285.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Daiwa Securities Group cut their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $212.00 to $175.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 24th. HSBC upped their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $114.00 to $207.00 in a research report on Thursday, June 4th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC upped their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-seven have assigned a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $306.59.

Palo Alto Networks News Roundup

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

• Positive Sentiment: Palo Alto Networks recently hit a $10 billion annual revenue run rate, reinforcing that the company has grown far beyond its legacy firewall roots and continues to scale as a cybersecurity platform. Palo Alto Networks Hits $10B Revenue Run Rate Beats S&P 500 Across All Timeframes
• Positive Sentiment: Cybersecurity remains a favored theme as AI adoption grows, with industry commentary suggesting autonomous AI agents will need security protection, which could expand the long-term market for PANW’s products. Zscaler CEO: AI Will Create ‘Billions of Agents’ That Need Cybersecurity Protection
• Neutral Sentiment: Northland Securities reiterated a Market Perform view and maintained a $302 price target, while modeling earnings of $0.45 per share for Q1 2027 and $0.48 for Q2 2027, suggesting steady expectations but no major near-term catalyst from the research note. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. market data
• Neutral Sentiment: Short interest data showed no meaningful change, so it does not appear to be a driver of the stock’s move today.
• Negative Sentiment: Recent post-earnings trading has been pressured by concerns that rising costs are weighing on margins, which is likely a key reason investors have been trimming the stock. PANW Stock Declines 9% Post Q3 Results: Should You Buy, Sell or Hold?

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $260.52 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The company has a market capitalization of $212.32 billion, a PE ratio of 213.54, a P/E/G ratio of 9.45 and a beta of 0.94. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $209.50 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $187.35. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a twelve month low of $139.57 and a twelve month high of $302.95.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, June 2nd. The network technology company reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $3 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.94 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 7.95% and a return on equity of 10.53%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 31.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.37 earnings per share. 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. Research analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.12 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 1,100 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $161.40, for a total transaction of $177,540.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 83,136 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,418,150.40. This represents a 1.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.42, for a total transaction of $802,100.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 150,250 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,103,105. This trade represents a 3.22% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders sold 72,076 shares of company stock valued at $17,930,587. 1.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.