Burkett Asset Management Ltd Takes $340,000 Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Burkett Asset Management Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 1,845 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $340,000.

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

Trending Headlines about Palo Alto Networks

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

• Positive Sentiment: Scotiabank nudged its FY2027 EPS estimate higher for PANW, signaling modest confidence in longer-term earnings growth.
• Positive Sentiment: Recent commentary on Prisma AIRS suggests AI security is gaining traction and could boost revenue growth and deal size.
• Positive Sentiment: Broader cybersecurity-sector coverage remains constructive, with analysts and institutions still favoring the group amid rising AI-related security demand.
• Neutral Sentiment: Northland Securities kept a $302 price target and Market Perform rating while issuing a range of earnings estimates, indicating a cautious but not bearish stance.
• Negative Sentiment: Northland also trimmed some near- and mid-term EPS forecasts for PANW, reflecting lingering concern about profitability assumptions and valuation.
• Negative Sentiment: PANW still trades at a demanding valuation, so any slowdown in AI-security momentum could increase volatility.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 6.2%

PANW stock opened at $279.53 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $214.06 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $188.58. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1-year low of $139.57 and a 1-year high of $302.95. The stock has a market cap of $227.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 229.12, a P/E/G ratio of 9.77 and a beta of 0.94.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 10.53% and a net margin of 7.95%.The business had revenue of $3 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.94 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.37 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 31.1% on a year-over-year basis. 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. Analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.03 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.42, for a total value of $802,100.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 150,250 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,103,105. The trade was a 3.22% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director John P. Key sold 1,572 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $173.32, for a total value of $272,459.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 20,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,466,400. This represents a 7.29% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 72,076 shares of company stock valued at $17,930,587. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on PANW. New Street Research decreased their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $240.00 to $220.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 19th. Weiss Ratings downgraded Palo Alto Networks from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Thursday, June 4th. Daiwa Securities Group decreased their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $212.00 to $175.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 24th. Argus upped their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $222.00 to $320.00 in a report on Friday, June 5th. Finally, Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $345.00 price target (up from $265.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-seven have given a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $306.59.

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.