AGP Franklin LLC Cuts Stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

AGP Franklin LLC reduced its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 84.5% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,318 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 12,605 shares during the quarter. AGP Franklin LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $474,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 147.7% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,761 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,230,000 after acquiring an additional 4,031 shares in the last quarter. Bison Wealth LLC increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 169.1% in the 4th quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 5,212 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $948,000 after purchasing an additional 3,275 shares in the last quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 16.6% in the first quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC now owns 27,165 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $4,635,000 after purchasing an additional 3,874 shares during the last quarter. Carnegie Investment Counsel lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 12.8% during the first quarter. Carnegie Investment Counsel now owns 2,675 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $456,000 after purchasing an additional 303 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Avantax Advisory Services Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 8.7% during the first quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 47,438 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $8,095,000 after purchasing an additional 3,798 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 846,408 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $191.11, for a total transaction of $23,081,119.14. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 177,954 shares in the company, valued at approximately $34,008,788.94. This trade represents a 40.43% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 1,215,130 shares of company stock worth $249,031,488 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on PANW shares. New Street Research boosted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $235.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 12th. JMP Securities lifted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $212.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 27th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $225.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $215.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 20th. Finally, UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $220.00 target price (down previously from $230.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Thursday. Thirty research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $225.09.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

NASDAQ PANW opened at $182.90 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $208.77 and its 200 day moving average is $197.31. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $144.15 and a fifty-two week high of $223.61. The company has a market capitalization of $125.10 billion, a PE ratio of 115.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.39 and a beta of 0.95.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 19th. The network technology company reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.04. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 17.05% and a net margin of 11.69%.The firm had revenue of $2.47 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.46 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.56 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Palo Alto Networks has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.800-3.900 EPS. Q2 2026 guidance at 0.930-0.950 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current 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.