Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW Stock Purchased by Rakuten Investment Management Inc.

Rakuten Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 10.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 216,983 shares of the network technology company’s stock after buying an additional 21,025 shares during the quarter. Rakuten Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $84,278,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Solstein Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Putney Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $31,000. N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter valued at $27,000. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter valued at $28,000. Finally, Principia Wealth Advisory LLC increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 125.0% during the 2nd quarter. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 81 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $350.20 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $286.73 billion, a PE ratio of 686.68, a PEG ratio of 10.09 and a beta of 0.96. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12 month low of $139.57 and a 12 month high of $432.33. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $372.01 and its 200 day simple moving average is $271.49.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, September 1st. The network technology company reported $1.02 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.98 by $0.04. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 8.50% and a net margin of 2.67%. The firm had revenue of $3.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.35 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.95 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 34.5% on a year-over-year basis. Palo Alto Networks has set its FY 2027 guidance at 4.160-4.190 EPS and its Q1 2027 guidance at 0.960-0.980 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.32 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, Director John P. Key sold 2,500 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $376.03, for a total transaction of $940,075.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 10,000 shares in the company, valued at $3,760,300. The trade was a 20.00% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director James Goetz sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $376.68, for a total value of $7,533,600.00. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 54,210 shares of company stock valued at $20,823,029 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.55% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have commented on the company. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $450.00 price objective (up from $335.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Friday, August 28th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $425.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday, September 8th. Scotiabank lowered Palo Alto Networks from a “sector outperform” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $375.00 price target (up from $370.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, September 2nd. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane increased their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $380.00 to $400.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Thirty-nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $398.55.

Palo Alto Networks Company Profile

Palo Alto Networks, Inc (NASDAQ:PANW) is a global cybersecurity company that helps organizations protect networks, cloud environments, endpoints, and digital infrastructure. Its offerings are designed to prevent cyberattacks, identify security risks, monitor activity, and support incident response across enterprise, government, and service-provider environments.

The company’s portfolio includes network security products such as next-generation firewalls and security operations tools; Prisma, its cloud security platform; and Cortex, a suite focused on endpoint protection, threat detection, security analytics, and automated response.