Balefire LLC Takes Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Balefire LLC bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 1,876 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $301,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PANW. Boston Common Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 10.8% in the 1st quarter. Boston Common Asset Management LLC now owns 47,194 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $7,566,000 after purchasing an additional 4,618 shares in the last quarter. Nelson Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 14.7% during the 1st quarter. Nelson Capital Management LLC now owns 2,671 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $428,000 after purchasing an additional 343 shares in the last quarter. Greenwood Gearhart LLC increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 53.4% during the first quarter. Greenwood Gearhart LLC now owns 84,030 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $13,472,000 after buying an additional 29,245 shares during the period. S&CO Inc. increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 4.3% during the first quarter. S&CO Inc. now owns 86,925 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $13,935,000 after buying an additional 3,579 shares during the period. Finally, True North Advisors LLC raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 14.0% in the first quarter. True North Advisors LLC now owns 2,888 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $463,000 after buying an additional 354 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have commented on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group set a $335.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus set a $340.00 target price on Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $325.00 to $420.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 1st. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $387.00 target price (up from $320.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Citigroup restated a “buy” rating and set a $400.00 price target (up from $340.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Monday, July 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty have issued a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $331.48.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 1.9%

NASDAQ:PANW opened at $342.15 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $278.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 280.45, a PEG ratio of 12.95 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 company’s 50-day simple moving average is $295.28 and its 200 day simple moving average is $214.74.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced 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 net margin of 7.95% and a return on equity of 10.53%. The business had revenue of $3 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.94 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.37 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter 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, analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 62,904 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Friday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $258.65, for a total transaction of $16,270,119.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 235,983 shares in the company, valued at approximately $61,037,002.95. The trade was a 21.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 1,100 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $285.08, for a total value of $313,588.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 81,636 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,272,790.88. This represents a 1.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 101,239 shares of company stock worth $27,174,360 over the last quarter. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Key Palo Alto Networks News

Here are the key news stories impacting Palo Alto Networks this week:

• Positive Sentiment: J.P. Morgan-style rotation into cybersecurity is showing up in the news flow, with multiple commentators arguing that AI-driven security demand should benefit PANW as enterprises spend more to protect themselves from increasingly powerful AI tools. Why Palo Alto Stock Can Be a Big Winner in Cybersecurity’s New AI Era
• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley said sentiment on software stocks has become “too negative,” and named high-profile names like PANW as potential rebound candidates if investors rotate back into quality software leaders. Morgan Stanley Analysts Say Sentiment Has Gotten ‘Too Negative’ on Software Stocks. These Are Their Picks
• Positive Sentiment: Citi Wealth’s CIO highlighted cybersecurity as a favored theme, saying “infinite AI agents” could drive more enterprise spending on security, which reinforces the bull case for PANW. Citi Wealth CIO Warns “Infinite AI Agents” Will Accelerate Cybersecurity’s Share of Enterprise Spending
• Positive Sentiment: Palo Alto Networks announced it intends to acquire Embrace to expand its observability platform with digital experience monitoring, adding real-user monitoring and synthetics tools that could broaden its product offering and deepen customer value. Palo Alto Networks to Extend Leading Observability Platform with Innovative Digital Experience Monitoring
• Neutral Sentiment: One market note said PANW had slipped recently alongside broader software weakness, suggesting investor caution may still be weighing on the shares. Palo Alto Networks (PANW) Sees a More Significant Dip Than Broader Market: Some Facts to Know

About Palo Alto Networks

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.