Plato Investment Management Ltd Takes Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Plato Investment Management Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 15,417 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,227,000.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of PANW. N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC bought a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter valued at about $27,000. Allied Private Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter worth approximately $38,000. Darwin Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter worth approximately $25,000. Knuff & Co LLC purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Finally, Sittner & Nelson LLC raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 73.8% during the fourth quarter. Sittner & Nelson LLC now owns 146 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PANW has been the topic of several research reports. Northland Securities raised their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $190.00 to $302.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, June 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $330.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Wedbush raised their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $300.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Finally, TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, August 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty have given a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $339.61.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 62,904 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $258.65, for a total value of $16,270,119.60. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 235,983 shares in the company, valued at $61,037,002.95. This represents a 21.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $289.56, for a total value of $1,447,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 145,250 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $42,058,590. The trade was a 3.33% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 101,239 shares of company stock worth $27,174,360 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PANW opened at $384.27 on Monday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12-month low of $139.57 and a 12-month high of $398.88. The firm has a market capitalization of $313.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 314.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 12.89 and a beta of 0.91. 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 50 day moving average of $328.02 and a 200 day moving average of $235.70.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $3 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.94 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 7.95% and a return on equity of 10.53%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 31.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.37 earnings per share. 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, research analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Palo Alto Networks Company Profile

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.