Mizuho Markets Cayman LP Acquires Shares of 2,367 Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Mizuho Markets Cayman LP acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund acquired 2,367 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $379,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in PANW. Aureus Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 267.0% in the first quarter. Aureus Asset Management LLC now owns 8,404 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,347,000 after purchasing an additional 6,114 shares during the last quarter. Goepper Burkhardt LLC raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 15.7% in the first quarter. Goepper Burkhardt LLC now owns 1,835 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $294,000 after purchasing an additional 249 shares during the period. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 13.8% during the 1st quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. now owns 7,761 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,244,000 after buying an additional 941 shares during the last quarter. CI Investments Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 568.0% during the 1st quarter. CI Investments Inc. now owns 446,374 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $71,563,000 after buying an additional 379,556 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 4.4% during the 1st quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 6,466,118 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,036,648,000 after buying an additional 273,103 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently commented on PANW shares. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 4th. Arete Research raised their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $185.00 to $433.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, June 29th. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and set a $387.00 price objective (up from $320.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday. Argus set a $425.00 target price on Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Benchmark increased their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $270.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty have issued a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $331.48.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $335.28 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The stock has a market capitalization of $273.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 274.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 12.70 and a beta of 0.91. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a twelve month low of $139.57 and a twelve month high of $368.80. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $297.43 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $215.80.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, June 2nd. The network technology company reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79 by $0.06. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 7.95% and a return on equity of 10.53%. The firm had revenue of $3 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.94 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.37 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 31.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Palo Alto Networks has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.770-3.790 EPS and its Q4 2026 guidance at 0.960-0.980 EPS. Analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.03 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $289.56, for a total transaction of $1,447,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 145,250 shares in the company, valued at approximately $42,058,590. This represents a 3.33% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Aparna Bawa sold 290 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $348.74, for a total value of $101,134.60. Following the sale, the director directly owned 6,437 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,244,839.38. This trade represents a 4.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 101,239 shares of company stock valued at $27,174,360 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and commentators continue to highlight Palo Alto Networks as a key beneficiary of rising AI-driven cybersecurity spending, with Morgan Stanley saying sentiment on software stocks may be too negative and Barron’s arguing PANW could be a major winner in the new AI era. Article: Morgan Stanley Analysts Say Sentiment Has Gotten ‘Too Negative’ on Software Stocks. These Are Their Picks
• Positive Sentiment: Market watchers are also pointing to broader enterprise demand for cybersecurity as AI agents proliferate, which could support future security product spending and reinforce PANW’s growth narrative. Article: Citi Wealth CIO Warns “Infinite AI Agents” Will Accelerate Cybersecurity’s Share of Enterprise Spending
• Positive Sentiment: Palo Alto Networks announced it will acquire Embrace to extend its observability platform with Real User Monitoring and Synthetics, a move aimed at improving digital experience monitoring and AI-driven operations. Investors may see this as an expansion into a higher-value adjacent market. Article: Palo Alto Networks to Extend Leading Observability Platform with Innovative Digital Experience Monitoring
• Neutral Sentiment: Another brief note flagged PANW as a cybersecurity stock to follow, but did not add any new catalyst beyond the broader sector interest. Article: Cybersecurity Stocks To Follow Now – July 20th
• Negative Sentiment: Despite the upbeat long-term themes, one article noted PANW had slipped intraday, suggesting some investors are still taking profits or reacting to overall software sector weakness. Article: Palo Alto slips 3%: Why this analyst still sees it as a top cyber pick

Palo Alto Networks Profile

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.