Ascent Wealth Partners LLC Purchases 1,872 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Ascent Wealth Partners LLC boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 4.6% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 42,302 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,872 shares during the quarter. Ascent Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $6,782,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Darwin Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter worth $25,000. Steph & Co. boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 88.2% during the fourth quarter. Steph & Co. now owns 143 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 67 shares during the period. Knuff & Co LLC purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Sittner & Nelson LLC grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 73.8% during the fourth quarter. Sittner & Nelson LLC now owns 146 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Luken Investment Analytics LLC increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 196.2% in the 4th quarter. Luken Investment Analytics LLC now owns 154 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 102 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Helle Thorning-Schmidt sold 700 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $346.85, for a total transaction of $242,795.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 5,898 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,045,721.30. This trade represents a 10.61% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 900 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $345.00, for a total transaction of $310,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 79,644 shares in the company, valued at approximately $27,477,180. The trade was a 1.12% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 101,239 shares of company stock worth $27,174,360 in the last ninety days. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

NASDAQ:PANW opened at $358.68 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $292.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 294.00, a PEG ratio of 13.32 and a beta of 0.91. The business has a 50 day moving average of $290.04 and a 200 day moving average of $212.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.86. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1-year low of $139.57 and a 1-year high of $368.80.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, June 2nd. The network technology company reported $0.85 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $3 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.94 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 7.95% and a return on equity of 10.53%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 31.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business 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, sell-side analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PANW has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, June 1st. Susquehanna reissued a “positive” rating and set a $350.00 price objective (up from $200.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $209.00 to $253.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. HSBC raised their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $114.00 to $207.00 in a research note on Thursday, June 4th. Finally, Tigress Financial boosted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $245.00 to $430.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty have assigned a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $327.74.

Palo Alto Networks 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.