Bahl & Gaynor Inc. Sells 300 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Bahl & Gaynor Inc. trimmed its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 15.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,612 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 300 shares during the period. Bahl & Gaynor Inc.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $330,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 1st quarter valued at about $261,000. Strive Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 16.6% in the first quarter. Strive Asset Management LLC now owns 2,099 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $358,000 after buying an additional 299 shares during the period. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 25.3% during the 2nd quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. now owns 205,053 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $41,957,000 after acquiring an additional 41,392 shares in the last quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 6,400.0% during the 2nd quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 130 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 128 shares during the period. Finally, Arkadios Wealth Advisors raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 9.2% in the 2nd quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors now owns 39,893 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $8,164,000 after acquiring an additional 3,351 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $182.90 on Monday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1 year low of $144.15 and a 1 year high of $223.61. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $208.77 and its 200 day moving average is $197.44. The stock has a market cap of $127.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 115.76, a PEG ratio of 4.29 and a beta of 0.95.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, November 19th. The network technology company reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $2.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.46 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 11.69% and a return on equity of 17.05%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.56 earnings per share. 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, equities analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently weighed in on PANW. Hsbc Global Res lowered Palo Alto Networks from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating in a research report on Thursday. Scotiabank raised their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $228.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 19th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $215.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 10th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $225.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Thursday. Finally, JMP Securities boosted their price objective 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. Thirty equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $225.09.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $191.11, for a total transaction of $23,081,119.14. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 177,954 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $34,008,788.94. This represents a 40.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 846,408 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $204.06, for a total value of $172,718,016.48. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 275,013 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $56,119,152.78. The trade was a 75.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 1,215,130 shares of company stock valued at $249,031,488. Insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

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.