PeakShares LLC Acquires New Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

PeakShares LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 5,100 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $939,000.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 4.1% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 67,929,063 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $12,512,533,000 after buying an additional 2,659,100 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 30,331,705 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $5,587,100,000 after acquiring an additional 594,789 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 11.9% in the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 19,375,486 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $3,568,964,000 after acquiring an additional 2,065,776 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,989,257 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $2,934,935,000 after acquiring an additional 540,756 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,415,364,000. 79.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Nikesh Arora purchased 68,085 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 27th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $146.87 per share, for a total transaction of $9,999,643.95. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer directly owned 343,394 shares in the company, valued at $50,434,276.78. This trade represents a 24.73% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director John P. Key sold 7,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $279.24, for a total transaction of $2,094,300.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 12,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,490,500. The trade was a 37.50% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 101,044 shares of company stock valued at $26,022,722 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on PANW. Cantor Fitzgerald set a $340.00 target price on Palo Alto Networks and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. DA Davidson upped their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $190.00 to $345.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. BNP Paribas Exane increased their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $220.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $275.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Finally, Arete Research raised Palo Alto Networks from a “sell” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $185.00 target price for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-eight have issued a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $306.59.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of PANW opened at $287.78 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $234.54 billion, a PE ratio of 235.89, a P/E/G ratio of 10.69 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $228.24 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $192.65. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1-year low of $139.57 and a 1-year high of $302.95.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, June 2nd. The network technology company reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $3 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.94 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 10.53% and a net margin of 7.95%.The company’s revenue was up 31.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.37 EPS. Palo Alto Networks has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.770-3.790 EPS and its Q4 2026 guidance at 0.960-0.980 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.03 EPS for the current year.

About Palo Alto Networks

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ: PANW) is a cybersecurity company founded in 2005 and headquartered in Santa Clara, California. The firm develops a broad suite of security products and services designed to prevent successful cyberattacks and protect enterprise networks, clouds, and endpoints. Built around a platform strategy, its offerings target threat prevention, detection, response and governance across hybrid and multi-cloud environments.

The company’s product portfolio includes next‑generation firewalls as a core on‑premises capability, alongside cloud‑delivered security services and software for securing public and private clouds.