M Holdings Securities Inc. Purchases New Shares in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

M Holdings Securities Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 2,169 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $786,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of PANW. Shepherd Financial Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Shepherd Financial Partners LLC now owns 4,652 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,848,000 after buying an additional 81 shares during the period. StoneX Group Inc. grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 80.0% during the third quarter. StoneX Group Inc. now owns 6,506 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $2,577,000 after acquiring an additional 2,892 shares during the period. Allen Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 40.3% during the third quarter. Allen Investment Management LLC now owns 226,514 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $90,012,000 after acquiring an additional 65,025 shares during the period. Formidable Asset Management LLC raised its position in Palo Alto Networks by 18.4% in the third quarter. Formidable Asset Management LLC now owns 7,542 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $2,997,000 after acquiring an additional 1,170 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pegasus Asset Management Inc. raised its position in Palo Alto Networks by 1.0% in the third quarter. Pegasus Asset Management Inc. now owns 24,261 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $9,639,000 after acquiring an additional 235 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. Scotiabank downgraded Palo Alto Networks from a “sector outperform” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted 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. Susquehanna upped their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $350.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 2nd. Loop Capital increased their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $290.00 to $350.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, August 21st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $450.00 price target (up from $335.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Friday, August 28th. Thirty-nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $398.55.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Palo Alto Networks news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 400 shares of the firm’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 transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 77,987 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,859,455.90. This trade represents a 0.51% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Aparna Bawa sold 250 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $412.28, for a total transaction of $103,070.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 4,427 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,825,163.56. This trade represents a 5.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 54,210 shares of company stock worth $20,823,029. 0.55% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

PANW opened at $326.36 on Wednesday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1-year low of $139.57 and a 1-year high of $432.33. The stock has a market cap of $267.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 160.63, a P/E/G ratio of 9.49 and a beta of 0.96. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $368.37 and its 200 day simple moving average is $275.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.87.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its earnings results 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%. Palo Alto Networks’s quarterly revenue was up 34.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous 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. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Palo Alto Networks Company Profile

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. is a cybersecurity company that provides products and services to help organizations protect their networks, cloud environments, devices and applications. Its offerings include next-generation firewalls, cloud security tools, secure access services and platforms for detecting and responding to cyber threats. The company’s product portfolio includes Prisma for cloud and network security and Cortex for security operations, including threat detection and response. It also provides cybersecurity consulting and incident-response services through Unit 42.