Elm3 Financial Group LLC Raises Stock Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Elm3 Financial Group LLC grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 44.5% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 4,101 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,263 shares during the period. Elm3 Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $839,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the first quarter worth about $261,000. Strive Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 16.6% in the 1st quarter. Strive Asset Management LLC now owns 2,099 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $358,000 after purchasing an additional 299 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 10.8% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 14,125 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $2,410,000 after acquiring an additional 1,374 shares during the last quarter. Czech National Bank grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 6.4% during the 2nd quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 161,840 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $33,119,000 after purchasing an additional 9,766 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Avity Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 37.9% during the second quarter. Avity Investment Management Inc. now owns 181,691 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $37,181,000 after buying an additional 49,971 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 2.6%

NASDAQ:PANW opened at $212.58 on Tuesday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $190.36 and its 200-day simple moving average is $188.45. The stock has a market cap of $142.19 billion, a PE ratio of 132.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.93 and a beta of 0.98. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $144.15 and a fifty-two week high of $213.85.

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

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $204.19, for a total value of $1,020,950.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 96,135 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,629,805.65. This represents a 4.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 846,408 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $204.06, for a total value of $172,718,016.48. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 275,013 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $56,119,152.78. This trade represents a 75.48% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,194,356 shares of company stock worth $235,092,941 over the last ninety days. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $210.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group set a $235.00 price target on Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday, July 29th. Guggenheim boosted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 19th. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $232.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Tuesday, August 19th. Finally, Bank of America raised shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $215.00 target price on the stock in a report on Tuesday, August 19th. Thirty analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $214.64.

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.