Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW Stock Position Boosted by Rakuten Investment Management Inc.

Rakuten Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 10.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 216,983 shares of the network technology company’s stock after buying an additional 21,025 shares during the period. Rakuten Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $84,278,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of PANW. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $25,833,462,000. Legal & General Group Plc acquired a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,968,304,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,569,755,000. Deutsche Bank AG bought a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,481,236,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 16.0% during the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 22,476,753 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $3,603,473,000 after acquiring an additional 3,101,267 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 0.4%

Shares of Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $350.20 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $286.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 686.68, a P/E/G ratio of 10.09 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a quick ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12-month low of $139.57 and a 12-month high of $432.33. The business’s 50 day moving average is $372.01 and its 200-day moving average is $271.49.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released 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 business had revenue of $3.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.35 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 2.67% and a return on equity of 8.50%. The firm’s revenue was up 34.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.95 earnings per share. 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. Equities research analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on PANW. Mizuho set a $415.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 19th. DA Davidson increased their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $345.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and raised their target price for the company from $253.00 to $351.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 17th. Evercore reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Monday, August 31st. Finally, Capital One Financial boosted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $421.00 to $428.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Thirty-nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $398.55.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, Director John Key sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owned 10,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,760,300. This represents a 20.00% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $395.70, for a total transaction of $158,280.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 77,987 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,859,455.90. The trade was a 0.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 54,210 shares of company stock valued at $20,823,029. 0.55% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.