ABS Direct Equity Fund LLC Purchases New Stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

ABS Direct Equity Fund LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm acquired 1,600 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $257,000.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Darwin Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter worth approximately $25,000. Steph & Co. raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 88.2% in the 4th quarter. Steph & Co. now owns 143 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. Knuff & Co LLC purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Sittner & Nelson LLC lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 73.8% in the 4th quarter. Sittner & Nelson LLC now owns 146 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Luken Investment Analytics LLC lifted its position 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 valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 102 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of PANW opened at $323.79 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $263.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 265.40, a PEG ratio of 12.02 and a beta of 0.91. 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 one year low of $139.57 and a one year high of $368.80. The business has a fifty day moving average of $300.79 and a 200 day moving average of $217.83.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, June 2nd. The network technology company reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79 by $0.06. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 10.53% and a net margin of 7.95%.The company had revenue of $3 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.94 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.37 earnings per share. Palo Alto Networks’s revenue was up 31.1% on a year-over-year basis. 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. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.03 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $289.56, for a total value of $1,447,800.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 145,250 shares in the company, valued at approximately $42,058,590. This trade represents a 3.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Helle Thorning-Schmidt sold 700 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 7th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at $2,045,721.30. This represents a 10.61% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 101,239 shares of company stock valued at $27,174,360 in the last quarter. Insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have commented on PANW shares. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $275.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Stephens upped their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $180.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Wedbush increased their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $300.00 to $340.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. BNP Paribas Exane lifted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $330.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. Finally, UBS Group set a $300.00 target price on Palo Alto Networks and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty have issued a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $331.48.

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.