North Star Asset Management Inc. Buys 2,700 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

North Star Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 65.8% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,802 shares of the network technology company’s stock after buying an additional 2,700 shares during the period. North Star Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $1,392,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in PANW. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 2.0% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 64,016,374 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $13,100,311,000 after acquiring an additional 1,240,830 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,174,029 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $3,093,262,000 after purchasing an additional 169,055 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted 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 purchasing an additional 2,134,735 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 16.0% during the first 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 worth $1,177,765,000 after buying an additional 950,765 shares during the period. Finally, Nuveen LLC bought a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the first quarter worth $810,047,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Westpark Capital restated a “hold” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, November 20th. Northland Securities boosted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $177.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $232.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 12th. Bank of America lifted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $215.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 20th. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 14th. Thirty investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $225.09.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PANW opened at $186.27 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $129.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 117.89, a PEG ratio of 4.35 and a beta of 0.95. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52-week low of $144.15 and a 52-week high of $223.61. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $208.12 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $197.40.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, November 19th. The network technology company reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.89 by $0.04. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 17.05% and a net margin of 11.69%.The company had revenue of $2.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.46 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.56 EPS. Palo Alto Networks’s quarterly revenue was up 15.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Palo Alto Networks has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.800-3.900 EPS. Q2 2026 guidance at 0.930-0.950 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 96,135 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,629,805.65. The trade was a 4.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $219.97, for a total transaction of $153,979.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 47,505 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,449,674.85. The trade was a 1.45% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 1,215,130 shares of company stock valued at $249,031,488 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

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.