Great Lakes Retirement Inc. Grows Stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Great Lakes Retirement Inc. raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 3.4% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 16,740 shares of the network technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 557 shares during the quarter. Great Lakes Retirement Inc.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $3,426,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Bridgewealth Advisory Group LLC purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter valued at about $202,000. Linscomb Wealth Inc. lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 9.8% during the 2nd quarter. Linscomb Wealth Inc. now owns 37,962 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $7,769,000 after buying an additional 3,386 shares during the last quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 8.1% during the 2nd quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 3,869 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $792,000 after buying an additional 291 shares during the last quarter. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 45.7% during the 2nd quarter. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,110 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,046,000 after buying an additional 1,603 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BLB&B Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.0% during the 2nd quarter. BLB&B Advisors LLC now owns 86,228 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $17,646,000 after buying an additional 873 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently commented on PANW shares. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $215.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Tuesday, August 19th. Rosenblatt Securities dropped their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $235.00 to $215.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 14th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $232.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Tuesday, August 19th. Stephens reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and set a $205.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Tuesday, August 19th. Finally, Guggenheim increased their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 19th. Thirty equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $218.17.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $204.19, for a total transaction of $1,020,950.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 96,135 shares in the company, valued at $19,629,805.65. This trade represents a 4.94% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $211.92, for a total value of $25,594,426.08. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 149,190 shares in the company, valued at approximately $31,616,344.80. The trade was a 44.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 1,215,130 shares of company stock valued at $243,407,367 in the last 90 days. 2.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

PANW stock opened at $220.24 on Friday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52 week low of $144.15 and a 52 week high of $223.61. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $204.51 and its 200 day moving average is $194.16. The firm has a market cap of $147.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 137.22, a P/E/G ratio of 5.19 and a beta of 0.98.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly 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. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 17.66% and a net margin of 12.30%.The business had revenue of $2.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.50 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.75 EPS. Palo Alto Networks’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Palo Alto Networks has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.750-3.850 EPS. Q1 2026 guidance at 0.880-0.900 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.

About Palo Alto Networks

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.