Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW Stock Sold by Kercheville Advisors LLC

Kercheville Advisors LLC decreased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 53.1% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,500 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 1,700 shares during the period. Kercheville Advisors LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $596,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC raised its position in Palo Alto Networks by 15.0% during the first quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 410,401 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $65,796,000 after acquiring an additional 53,485 shares in the last quarter. B&D White Capital Company LLC bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the first quarter worth approximately $353,000. Bridgewater Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter worth approximately $2,159,000. Granite Islands Private Wealth LLC increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 43.6% during the 1st quarter. Granite Islands Private Wealth LLC now owns 15,342 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $2,453,000 after purchasing an additional 4,659 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. now owns 240,029 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $95,366,000 after purchasing an additional 3,700 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 NASDAQ PANW traded up $4.95 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $346.95. 4,595,061 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,170,998. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1-year low of $139.57 and a 1-year high of $432.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.87. The stock has a market capitalization of $283.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 680.31, a PEG ratio of 9.84 and a beta of 0.93. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $371.90 and its 200-day moving average price is $303.36.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, September 1st. The network technology company reported $1.02 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.98 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $3.41 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.35 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 8.50% and a net margin of 2.67%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 34.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.95 EPS. Palo Alto Networks has set its FY 2027 guidance at 4.160-4.190 EPS and its Q1 2027 guidance at 0.960-0.980 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director John P. Key sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $376.03, for a total value of $940,075.00. Following the sale, the director owned 10,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,760,300. This trade represents a 20.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director James Goetz sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $376.68, for a total transaction of $7,533,600.00. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 54,210 shares of company stock valued at $20,823,029 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on PANW. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and set a $450.00 price target (up from $400.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Northland Securities set a $360.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 2nd. Yorkville Ives started coverage on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Monday, October 5th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $500.00 price objective for the company. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $425.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday, September 8th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada increased their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $434.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have given a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $395.25.

About Palo Alto Networks

Palo Alto Networks, Inc (NASDAQ:PANW) is a global cybersecurity company that helps organizations protect networks, cloud environments, endpoints, and digital infrastructure. Its offerings are designed to prevent cyberattacks, identify security risks, monitor activity, and support incident response across enterprise, government, and service-provider environments.

The company’s portfolio includes network security products such as next-generation firewalls and security operations tools; Prisma, its cloud security platform; and Cortex, a suite focused on endpoint protection, threat detection, security analytics, and automated response.