Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Raises Stock Holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 18.3% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 323,335 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 49,985 shares during the quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $51,837,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PANW. GSG Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. GSG Advisors LLC now owns 12,536 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $2,010,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. Outfitters Financial LLC grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Outfitters Financial LLC now owns 3,265 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $601,000 after buying an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2.4% during the third quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC now owns 2,312 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $471,000 after buying an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. PGIM Custom Harvest LLC raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.4% in the third quarter. PGIM Custom Harvest LLC now owns 3,859 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $786,000 after buying an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Signal Advisors Wealth LLC raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 4.8% in the fourth quarter. Signal Advisors Wealth LLC now owns 1,233 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $227,000 after buying an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of PANW stock opened at $325.63 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 0.86. The firm has a market capitalization of $265.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 266.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 12.45 and a beta of 0.91. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a one year low of $139.57 and a one year high of $368.80. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $299.17 and a 200 day moving average price of $216.83.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, June 2nd. The network technology company reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $3 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.94 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 7.95% and a return on equity of 10.53%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 31.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.37 EPS. 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. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.03 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $289.56, for a total value of $1,447,800.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 145,250 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $42,058,590. The trade was a 3.33% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 900 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $345.00, for a total value of $310,500.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 79,644 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $27,477,180. The trade was a 1.12% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 101,239 shares of company stock valued at $27,174,360 in the last 90 days. 1.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the stock. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $270.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Scotiabank reiterated a “sector outperform” rating and issued a $320.00 price target (up from $180.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Benchmark increased their price target 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. Susquehanna restated a “positive” rating and set a $350.00 price objective (up from $200.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Finally, Loop Capital lifted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $160.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty have assigned a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $331.48.

Palo Alto Networks Company 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.