Meridian Wealth Management LLC Has $6.67 Million Stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Meridian Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 2.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 32,588 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 854 shares during the quarter. Meridian Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $6,669,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. St. Clair Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 0.3% in the second quarter. St. Clair Advisors LLC now owns 15,800 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $3,233,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the period. Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC. boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 2.1% during the second quarter. Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC. now owns 2,467 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $496,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the period. Csenge Advisory Group increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2.4% in the first quarter. Csenge Advisory Group now owns 2,271 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $381,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. TFG Advisers LLC raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.1% in the second quarter. TFG Advisers LLC now owns 4,668 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $955,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares during the period. Finally, GSG Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. GSG Advisors LLC now owns 12,450 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $2,154,000 after buying an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 846,408 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $204.06, for a total value of $172,718,016.48. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 275,013 shares in the company, valued at approximately $56,119,152.78. The trade was a 75.48% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $204.19, for a total transaction of $1,020,950.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 96,135 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,629,805.65. This trade represents a 4.94% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 1,215,830 shares of company stock worth $249,160,428. 2.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. BTIG Research raised shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 13th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $220.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday. Bank of America raised their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $215.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 20th. Mizuho upped their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 17th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $216.00 to $228.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Twenty-nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $221.52.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PANW opened at $205.25 on Friday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a one year low of $144.15 and a one year high of $223.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $140.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 127.88, a PEG ratio of 4.87 and a beta of 0.95. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $209.07 and its 200-day moving average price is $197.06.

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