Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW Stock Position Reduced by Sowell Financial Services LLC

Sowell Financial Services LLC decreased its position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 10.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 14,358 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 1,722 shares during the quarter. Sowell Financial Services LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $5,704,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter worth about $25,833,462,000. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 4.2% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 36,979,497 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $12,610,748,000 after buying an additional 1,493,179 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 0.9% in the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 22,681,876 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $7,734,973,000 after buying an additional 205,123 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 8.7% in the second quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 8,778,963 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $2,993,802,000 after buying an additional 706,003 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter valued at approximately $1,968,304,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

PANW stock opened at $380.57 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $311.60 billion, a PE ratio of 746.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 11.31 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $371.82 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $269.01. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12-month low of $139.57 and a 12-month high of $432.33.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, September 1st. The network technology company reported $1.02 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $3.41 billion for 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 company’s quarterly revenue was up 34.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $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. As a group, research analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.32 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 27,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $391.60, for a total value of $10,769,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 117,750 shares in the company, valued at approximately $46,110,900. This trade represents a 18.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director James Goetz sold 20,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 17th. The shares were 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. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 54,210 shares of company stock worth $20,823,029. Insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered shares of Palo Alto Networks from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $253.00 to $351.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 17th. Loop Capital boosted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $290.00 to $350.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, August 21st. Tigress Financial boosted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $245.00 to $430.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. DA Davidson increased their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $345.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 2nd. Finally, Phillip Securities cut Palo Alto Networks from a “moderate buy” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $320.00 to $346.00 in a report on Monday, September 7th. Thirty-nine research analysts have rated the stock with 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 an average target price of $398.55.

Palo Alto Networks Profile

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.