New York State Teachers Retirement System Raises Stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

New York State Teachers Retirement System increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 0.0% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 527,699 shares of the network technology company’s stock after buying an additional 78 shares during the quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System owned 0.08% of Palo Alto Networks worth $107,988,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. HWG Holdings LP purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 1st quarter worth about $31,000. Dagco Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 1st quarter worth about $33,000. WPG Advisers LLC purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 1st quarter worth about $37,000. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 58.9% in the 1st quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL now owns 224 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 83 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Stonebridge Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 46.8% in the 1st quarter. Stonebridge Financial Group LLC now owns 232 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 74 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. New Street Research boosted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $235.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 12th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $225.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Monday, September 15th. KeyCorp downgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Guggenheim upped their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 19th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $210.00 to $216.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 2nd. Twenty-nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $216.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 846,408 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 23rd. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $56,119,152.78. This trade represents a 75.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $211.92, for a total transaction of $25,594,426.08. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 149,190 shares in the company, valued at $31,616,344.80. The trade was a 44.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 1,315,130 shares of company stock valued at $260,687,367. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 0.4%

Shares of PANW opened at $206.70 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $195.23 and its 200-day moving average price is $189.80. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a twelve month low of $144.15 and a twelve month high of $217.94. The stock has a market cap of $138.26 billion, a PE ratio of 128.79, a P/E/G ratio of 4.93 and a beta of 0.98.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its quarterly 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 net margin of 12.30% and a return on equity of 17.66%. The business had revenue of $2.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.50 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.75 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly 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. Analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.