Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW Stock Sold by Fifth Third Bancorp

Fifth Third Bancorp decreased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 2.6% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 1,424,629 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 38,384 shares during the quarter. Palo Alto Networks accounts for about 0.9% of Fifth Third Bancorp’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 16th biggest position. Fifth Third Bancorp owned 0.17% of Palo Alto Networks worth $566,019,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Artemis Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the 3rd quarter valued at about $993,000. Endeavor Private Wealth Inc. grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 12.9% in the 3rd quarter. Endeavor Private Wealth Inc. now owns 1,058 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $420,000 after acquiring an additional 121 shares in the last quarter. Bingham Private Wealth LLC grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 4.8% in the 3rd quarter. Bingham Private Wealth LLC now owns 948 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $377,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 13.7% in the 3rd quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System now owns 49,183 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $19,541,000 after acquiring an additional 5,927 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ritholtz Wealth Management grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 17,897 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $7,111,000 after acquiring an additional 424 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on PANW. New Street Research set a $415.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday, August 18th. Benchmark boosted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $340.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 24th. Yorkville Ives began coverage on Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Monday, October 5th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $500.00 price objective on the stock. Evercore restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Phillip Securities downgraded Palo Alto Networks from a “moderate buy” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $320.00 to $346.00 in a report on Monday, September 7th. Thirty-nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $398.55.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 2.5%

NASDAQ PANW opened at $334.47 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a current ratio of 0.87. The company has a market capitalization of $273.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 655.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 9.36 and a beta of 0.96. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $367.81 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $275.82. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a one year low of $139.57 and a one year high of $432.33.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, September 1st. The network technology company reported $1.02 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.98 by $0.04. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 2.67% and a return on equity of 8.50%. The business had revenue of $3.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.35 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.95 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 34.5% compared to the same quarter last year. 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. Equities analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Josh Paul sold 900 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $373.68, for a total value of $336,312.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 72,484 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $27,085,821.12. The trade was a 1.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 27,500 shares of the company’s 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 sale, the executive vice president owned 117,750 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $46,110,900. This represents a 18.93% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 54,210 shares of company stock valued at $20,823,029 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.55% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Profile

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. is a cybersecurity company that provides products and services to help organizations protect their networks, cloud environments, devices and applications. Its offerings include next-generation firewalls, cloud security tools, secure access services and platforms for detecting and responding to cyber threats. The company’s product portfolio includes Prisma for cloud and network security and Cortex for security operations, including threat detection and response. It also provides cybersecurity consulting and incident-response services through Unit 42.