Handelsbanken Fonder AB Raises Holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Handelsbanken Fonder AB increased its position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 11.6% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 433,901 shares of the network technology company’s stock after buying an additional 45,006 shares during the period. Handelsbanken Fonder AB owned 0.06% of Palo Alto Networks worth $88,351,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PANW. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 29.4% in the 3rd quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 32,155 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $6,547,000 after purchasing an additional 7,301 shares during the last quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP bought a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $75,412,000. Silver Oak Securities Incorporated increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 240.1% during the 3rd quarter. Silver Oak Securities Incorporated now owns 11,732 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $2,389,000 after purchasing an additional 8,282 shares during the last quarter. US Bancorp DE raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 1,364,442 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $277,828,000 after buying an additional 8,344 shares during the period. Finally, GoalVest Advisory LLC lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 1,248.9% in the third quarter. GoalVest Advisory LLC now owns 10,899 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $2,219,000 after buying an additional 10,091 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have weighed in on PANW shares. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $185.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Susquehanna dropped their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $230.00 to $200.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $200.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. Barclays set a $200.00 target price on Palo Alto Networks and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 9th. Finally, DA Davidson set a $190.00 price target on Palo Alto Networks and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have given a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $211.62.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of PANW stock opened at $149.40 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $121.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 82.54, a P/E/G ratio of 5.23 and a beta of 0.75. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $175.36 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $190.82. 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 announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 17th. The network technology company reported $1.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.94 by $0.09. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 17.60% and a net margin of 12.96%.The firm had revenue of $2.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.58 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.81 earnings per share. Palo Alto Networks’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. On average, research analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,768 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the executive vice president owned 298,887 shares in the company, valued at approximately $57,096,383.61. This trade represents a 28.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $188.18, for a total value of $940,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 155,119 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,190,293.42. The trade was a 3.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 260,542 shares of company stock valued at $49,910,995 over the last 90 days. 1.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.