Bernard Wealth Management Corp. Acquires 2,314 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Bernard Wealth Management Corp. raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 16.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 16,631 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,314 shares during the quarter. Palo Alto Networks accounts for approximately 1.6% of Bernard Wealth Management Corp.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 19th largest holding. Bernard Wealth Management Corp.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $3,403,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in PANW. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2.5% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 62,775,544 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $10,712,019,000 after acquiring an additional 1,541,637 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 41.9% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 7,235,406 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,234,650,000 after acquiring an additional 2,134,735 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 16.0% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 6,902,048 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,177,765,000 after acquiring an additional 950,765 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the first quarter worth about $810,047,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 5.2% during the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,422,037 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $754,576,000 after acquiring an additional 219,111 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.16, for a total transaction of $141,512.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 32,474 shares in the company, valued at $6,564,943.84. This trade represents a 2.11% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.80, for a total value of $17,280,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 3,143,516 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $543,199,564.80. This trade represents a 3.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,315,130 shares of company stock worth $260,687,367 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on PANW. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $210.00 to $216.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 2nd. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $232.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday, August 19th. Piper Sandler raised shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $200.00 to $225.00 in a report on Tuesday, August 12th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Bank of America raised shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $215.00 price target for the company in a report on Tuesday, August 19th. Twenty-eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $214.95.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 3.1%

Shares of NASDAQ:PANW opened at $208.55 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $192.94 and a two-hundred day moving average of $189.14. The stock has a market cap of $139.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 129.94, a PEG ratio of 5.12 and a beta of 0.98. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52-week low of $144.15 and a 52-week high of $217.94.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its earnings results on Monday, August 18th. The network technology company reported $0.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $2.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.50 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 17.66% and a net margin of 12.30%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 15.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.75 EPS. Palo Alto Networks has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.750-3.850 EPS. Q1 2026 guidance at 0.880-0.900 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Palo Alto Networks Company Profile

Palo Alto Networks, Inc provides cybersecurity solutions worldwide. The company offers firewall appliances and software; and Panorama, a security management solution for the global control of network security platform as a virtual or a physical appliance. It also provides subscription services covering the areas of threat prevention, malware and persistent threat, URL filtering, laptop and mobile device protection, DNS security, Internet of Things security, SaaS security API, and SaaS security inline, as well as threat intelligence, and data loss prevention.