Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW Shares Sold by Intech Investment Management LLC

Intech Investment Management LLC lessened its stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 31.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 114,212 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 51,915 shares during the quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $23,256,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter valued at about $675,865,000. ABN AMRO Bank N.V. purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the second quarter worth about $340,883,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 65,269,963 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $13,290,270,000 after purchasing an additional 1,253,589 shares during the last quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 97.9% in the 2nd quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 2,104,939 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $430,755,000 after purchasing an additional 1,041,145 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 3,881.4% in the 3rd quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 721,157 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $146,842,000 after buying an additional 703,044 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Key Stories Impacting Palo Alto Networks

Here are the key news stories impacting Palo Alto Networks this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Big drop in short interest — Short interest fell roughly 50.8% in February to ~22.8M shares (2.8% of float) and a short-interest ratio of ~1.3 days, reducing immediate short-squeeze risk and removing a pressure point on the shares. (no link)
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst consensus still generally constructive — PANW has received an average analyst rating around “Moderate Buy,” supporting a baseline of continued institutional interest. Palo Alto Networks Receives Average Rating of Moderate Buy
• Neutral Sentiment: Media pieces pitching the AI/security upside — Commentary argues PANW’s AI-security investments could drive a turnaround, but these are thematic narratives rather than new fundamental beats. PANW Is Down 19% But Its AI Security Bet May Change That
• Neutral Sentiment: Competitive context vs. CrowdStrike — Coverage compares Palo Alto’s platform strategy to CrowdStrike’s M&A growth path; useful for positioning but not an immediate catalyst. Cybersecurity Showdown: CrowdStrike vs Palo Alto
• Neutral Sentiment: High-profile commentary — Jim Cramer discussed PANW on air, increasing retail visibility but not adding new company-guidance information. Jim Cramer Discusses Palo Alto Networks’ Earnings
• Neutral Sentiment: Daiwa cuts price target but keeps outperform rating — PT lowered from $212 to $175, signaling reduced near-term upside expectations from that shop while still endorsing the name. Daiwa Securities Adjusts PT on Palo Alto Networks to $175
• Negative Sentiment: Q3/organic growth commentary; EPS dilution concern — Analysis notes organic growth normalizing and that a Q3 EPS miss was driven by share dilution, which could pressure near-term EPS multiples if buybacks don’t offset dilution. Palo Alto Networks: Organic Growth Begins To Normalize

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently commented on PANW. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $223.00 price target (down from $245.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Truist Financial set a $200.00 target price on Palo Alto Networks and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $225.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. HSBC lowered their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $157.00 to $114.00 in a report on Thursday, February 19th. Finally, Northland Securities boosted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $177.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have issued a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $211.62.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,768 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $191.03, for a total transaction of $23,070,311.04. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 298,887 shares in the company, valued at $57,096,383.61. This represents a 28.78% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 800 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.81, for a total value of $147,848.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 46,005 shares in the company, valued at $8,502,184.05. This represents a 1.71% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 260,542 shares of company stock valued at $49,910,995 in the last three months. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

NASDAQ PANW opened at $144.84 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $118.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 80.02, a PEG ratio of 5.12 and a beta of 0.75. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $176.09 and a 200-day simple moving average of $191.11. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a one year low of $139.57 and a one year high of $223.61.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 17th. The network technology company reported $1.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.94 by $0.09. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 12.96% and a return on equity of 17.60%. The company had revenue of $2.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.58 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.81 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 14.9% on a year-over-year basis. Palo Alto Networks has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.650-3.700 EPS and its Q3 2026 guidance at 0.780-0.800 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Palo Alto Networks

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ: PANW) is a cybersecurity company founded in 2005 and headquartered in Santa Clara, California. The firm develops a broad suite of security products and services designed to prevent successful cyberattacks and protect enterprise networks, clouds, and endpoints. Built around a platform strategy, its offerings target threat prevention, detection, response and governance across hybrid and multi-cloud environments.

The company’s product portfolio includes next‑generation firewalls as a core on‑premises capability, alongside cloud‑delivered security services and software for securing public and private clouds.