Blair William & Co. IL Purchases 79,978 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Blair William & Co. IL raised its position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 6.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,237,864 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 79,978 shares during the quarter. Blair William & Co. IL owned 0.18% of Palo Alto Networks worth $252,054,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the second quarter worth $675,865,000. ABN AMRO Bank N.V. acquired a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter valued at $340,883,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 108.3% in the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,467,692 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $502,263,000 after buying an additional 1,282,738 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 2.0% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 65,269,963 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $13,290,270,000 after acquiring an additional 1,253,589 shares during the last quarter. Finally, California Public Employees Retirement System grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 97.9% during the 2nd quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 2,104,939 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $430,755,000 after acquiring an additional 1,041,145 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 1.2%

Shares of NASDAQ PANW opened at $165.05 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $134.68 billion, a PE ratio of 91.19, a PEG ratio of 5.89 and a beta of 0.78. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $171.66 and its 200-day moving average price is $190.09. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a twelve month low of $139.57 and a twelve month high of $223.61.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 17th. The network technology company reported $1.03 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.94 by $0.09. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 17.60% and a net margin of 12.96%.The business had revenue of $2.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.58 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.81 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 14.9% on a year-over-year basis. Palo Alto Networks has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.650-3.700 EPS and its Q3 2026 guidance at 0.780-0.800 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PANW has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Arete Research raised shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “sell” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $185.00 price target for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, February 4th. Stephens upped their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. HSBC reduced their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $157.00 to $114.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. Finally, Evercore raised their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $220.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 13th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have assigned a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $210.19.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $188.18, for a total transaction of $940,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 155,119 shares in the company, valued at $29,190,293.42. This trade represents a 3.12% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,768 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $191.03, for a total transaction of $23,070,311.04. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 298,887 shares in the company, valued at $57,096,383.61. This trade represents a 28.78% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 139,068 shares of company stock worth $26,600,684. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.