Sherman Asset Management Inc. Acquires Shares of 1,451 Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Sherman Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm acquired 1,451 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $233,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Cooper Financial Group raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Cooper Financial Group now owns 4,227 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $779,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. Outfitters Financial LLC grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Outfitters Financial LLC now owns 3,265 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $601,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 2.4% in the third quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC now owns 2,312 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $471,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. PGIM Custom Harvest LLC increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 1.4% in the third quarter. PGIM Custom Harvest LLC now owns 3,859 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $786,000 after buying an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Signal Advisors Wealth LLC increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 4.8% in the fourth quarter. Signal Advisors Wealth LLC now owns 1,233 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $227,000 after buying an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 0.3%

Shares of NASDAQ PANW opened at $354.02 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $288.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 290.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 13.10 and a beta of 0.91. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12-month low of $139.57 and a 12-month high of $368.17. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $283.88 and its 200 day simple moving average is $210.11.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, June 2nd. The network technology company reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.94 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.37 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 31.1% compared to the same quarter last year. 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 EPS for the current year.

Key Palo Alto Networks News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Tigress Financial raised its price target on Palo Alto Networks from $245 to $430 and reiterated a buy rating, signaling strong upside confidence in the stock. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Cybersecurity stocks, including PANW, are benefiting from reports that AI-driven security spending could support long-term growth as cyberattacks intensify. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: PANW also got a lift from a broader cybersecurity rally after IBM’s weak results and cybersecurity warning pushed investors toward security-focused software names. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Market commentary highlighted PANW as one of the cybersecurity stocks “riding the wave” from IBM’s earnings miss, reinforcing the sector-wide bid into defensive tech. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Commentary from Jim Cramer and other market-watch articles called Palo Alto Networks “unbelievable” and noted strong year-to-date gains, but these pieces were more sentiment-driven than fundamental catalysts. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: A Zacks comparison article argued Zscaler has an edge over PANW due to valuation and integration-cost concerns, but this appears to be a relative-valuation view rather than a direct negative catalyst. Article Title

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have commented on PANW. BTIG Research increased their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $333.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 30th. Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $415.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. Capital One Financial raised their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $168.00 to $248.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 19th. TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating and set a $330.00 price objective (up from $255.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $253.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have issued a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $323.98.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 62,904 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $258.65, for a total value of $16,270,119.60. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 235,983 shares in the company, valued at $61,037,002.95. This trade represents a 21.05% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $289.56, for a total transaction of $1,447,800.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 145,250 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $42,058,590. The trade was a 3.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 101,239 shares of company stock valued at $27,174,360. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

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.