Woodward Diversified Capital LLC Acquires 462 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Woodward Diversified Capital LLC lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 11.7% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 4,402 shares of the network technology company’s stock after buying an additional 462 shares during the period. Woodward Diversified Capital LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $901,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 2.5% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 62,775,544 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $10,712,019,000 after purchasing an additional 1,541,637 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 41.9% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 7,235,406 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,234,650,000 after acquiring an additional 2,134,735 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 16.0% in the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 6,902,048 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,177,765,000 after acquiring an additional 950,765 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 1st quarter valued at about $810,047,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 5.2% in the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,422,037 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $754,576,000 after acquiring an additional 219,111 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. Piper Sandler upgraded Palo Alto Networks from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $200.00 to $225.00 in a research report on Tuesday, August 12th. Scotiabank upped their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $228.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 19th. Truist Financial set a $220.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 19th. Barclays reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $215.00 target price (up from $210.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday, August 19th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein set a $207.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 19th. Thirty research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $214.64.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PANW opened at $206.80 on Thursday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52-week low of $144.15 and a 52-week high of $210.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $138.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 128.85, a P/E/G ratio of 4.85 and a beta of 0.98. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $189.95 and a 200-day moving average price of $187.87.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its earnings results on Monday, August 18th. The network technology company reported $0.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $2.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.50 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 17.66% and a net margin of 12.30%.The business’s revenue was up 15.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.75 EPS. Palo Alto Networks has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.750-3.850 EPS. Q1 2026 guidance at 0.880-0.900 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.80, for a total transaction of $17,280,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 3,143,516 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $543,199,564.80. This trade represents a 3.08% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 846,408 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $204.06, for a total value of $172,718,016.48. Following the transaction, 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 1,314,430 shares of company stock valued at $259,210,094. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.