Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW Shares Acquired by Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc.

Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 45.7% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 5,110 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,603 shares during the period. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $1,046,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. BLB&B Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.0% during the second quarter. BLB&B Advisors LLC now owns 86,228 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $17,646,000 after purchasing an additional 873 shares in the last quarter. Aljian Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 10.5% during the second quarter. Aljian Capital Management LLC now owns 20,809 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $4,258,000 after purchasing an additional 1,973 shares in the last quarter. Simon Quick Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 12.2% during the second quarter. Simon Quick Advisors LLC now owns 8,393 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,718,000 after purchasing an additional 910 shares in the last quarter. Strs Ohio increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 10.5% during the second quarter. Strs Ohio now owns 594,185 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $121,594,000 after purchasing an additional 56,517 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amalgamated Bank increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 3.4% during the second quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 146,174 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $29,913,000 after purchasing an additional 4,744 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

PANW opened at $220.24 on Friday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $204.51 and a 200-day simple moving average of $194.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $147.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 137.22, a P/E/G ratio of 5.19 and a beta of 0.98. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12 month low of $144.15 and a 12 month high of $223.61.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 18th. The network technology company reported $0.95 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.06. The business 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 company’s quarterly revenue was up 15.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm 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. Research analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently commented on PANW shares. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 17th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $225.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Monday, September 15th. BTIG Research raised Palo Alto Networks from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 13th. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $215.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Tuesday, August 19th. Finally, Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $215.00 price objective (up from $210.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Tuesday, August 19th. Thirty equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $218.17.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $204.19, for a total value 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. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $202.16, for a total value of $141,512.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 32,474 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,564,943.84. This represents a 2.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 1,215,130 shares of company stock valued at $243,407,367 over the last 90 days. 2.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About Palo Alto Networks

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.