Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW Shares Sold by Washburn Capital Management Inc.

Washburn Capital Management Inc. lessened its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 38.2% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 5,717 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 3,541 shares during the quarter. Washburn Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $917,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 15.0% during the 1st quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 410,401 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $65,796,000 after acquiring an additional 53,485 shares in the last quarter. Aviva PLC grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 5.4% in the fourth quarter. Aviva PLC now owns 568,804 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $104,774,000 after acquiring an additional 29,230 shares in the last quarter. Granite Islands Private Wealth LLC grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 43.6% in the first quarter. Granite Islands Private Wealth LLC now owns 15,342 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $2,453,000 after acquiring an additional 4,659 shares in the last quarter. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 8.8% during the fourth quarter. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp now owns 48,458 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $8,926,000 after purchasing an additional 3,926 shares during the period. Finally, Oak Thistle LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,554,000. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 3.7%

Shares of NASDAQ:PANW traded down $12.40 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $325.91. The company had a trading volume of 4,677,069 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,047,614. The stock has a market capitalization of $265.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 267.14, a PEG ratio of 12.56 and a beta of 0.91. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $274.08 and its 200-day moving average price is $206.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.86. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a one year low of $139.57 and a one year high of $368.17.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, June 2nd. The network technology company reported $0.85 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $3 billion for 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 was up 31.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.37 EPS. 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. Equities research analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group set a $335.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $330.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $330.00 price objective (up from $255.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Scotiabank restated a “sector outperform” rating and set a $320.00 target price (up from $180.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Finally, UBS Group set a $300.00 target price on Palo Alto Networks and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have assigned a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $318.65.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, Director James J. Goetz sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $279.90, for a total transaction of $5,598,000.00. Following the sale, the director owned 20,000 shares in the company, valued at $5,598,000. This represents a 50.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 1,100 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $285.08, for a total value of $313,588.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 81,636 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,272,790.88. This represents a 1.33% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 101,239 shares of company stock valued at $27,174,360. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks 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.