Nemes Rush Group LLC Increases Stock Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Nemes Rush Group LLC grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 327.4% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 11,386 shares of the network technology company’s stock after buying an additional 8,722 shares during the period. Nemes Rush Group LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $2,330,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Whipplewood Advisors LLC grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 6,400.0% in the second quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 130 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 128 shares in the last quarter. Briaud Financial Planning Inc bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the second quarter worth about $28,000. MTM Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter worth about $31,000. Dagco Inc. bought a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 1st quarter valued at about $33,000. Finally, WPG Advisers LLC bought a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 1st quarter valued at about $37,000. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on PANW. Guggenheim upped their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 19th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $216.00 to $228.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 13th. New Street Research upped their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $235.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 12th. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $232.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 12th. Finally, Tigress Financial began coverage on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Friday, September 26th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $245.00 price target for the company. Thirty analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $225.09.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 1.2%

Shares of Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $182.90 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $208.77 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $197.37. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12-month low of $144.15 and a 12-month high of $223.61. The firm has a market cap of $125.10 billion, a PE ratio of 115.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.34 and a beta of 0.95.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 19th. The network technology company reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $2.47 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.46 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 11.69% and a return on equity of 17.05%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 15.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.56 earnings per share. Palo Alto Networks has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.800-3.900 EPS. Q2 2026 guidance at 0.930-0.950 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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 stock was sold at an average price of $204.06, for a total transaction of $172,718,016.48. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 275,013 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $56,119,152.78. The trade was a 75.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $217.94, for a total value of $26,321,485.56. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 356,409 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $77,675,777.46. This represents a 25.31% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 1,215,130 shares of company stock valued at $249,031,488 in the last 90 days. 1.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Palo Alto Networks 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.