Benchmark Financial Wealth Advisors LLC Acquires Shares of 1,669 Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Benchmark Financial Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 1,669 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $342,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the first quarter valued at $261,000. Strive Asset Management LLC raised its position in 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 worth $358,000 after buying an additional 299 shares during the last quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 25.3% during the 2nd quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. now owns 205,053 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $41,957,000 after acquiring an additional 41,392 shares during the period. Whipplewood Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 6,400.0% during the 2nd quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 130 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 128 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arkadios Wealth Advisors boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 9.2% during the 2nd quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors now owns 39,893 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $8,164,000 after acquiring an additional 3,351 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have commented on PANW shares. BTIG Research raised shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 13th. Guggenheim raised their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 19th. Piper Sandler raised Palo Alto Networks from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $200.00 to $225.00 in a report on Tuesday, August 12th. Bank of America upped their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $215.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 20th. Finally, Westpark Capital reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Tuesday, August 19th. Thirty investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $218.17.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $220.24 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $147.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 137.22, a P/E/G ratio of 5.24 and a beta of 0.95. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $204.51 and its 200 day moving average is $194.47. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a one year low of $144.15 and a one year high of $223.61.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 return on equity of 17.66% and a net margin of 12.30%.The business had revenue of $2.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.50 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.75 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly 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. Analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $204.19, for a total transaction of $1,020,950.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 96,135 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 846,408 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $204.06, for a total transaction of $172,718,016.48. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 275,013 shares in the company, valued at $56,119,152.78. This represents a 75.48% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 1,094,356 shares of company stock valued at $222,684,964. 2.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.