Ieq Capital LLC Makes New Investment in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Ieq Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm acquired 94,219 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $32,131,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the second quarter worth about $25,833,462,000. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,415,364,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $1,569,755,000. Deutsche Bank AG purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $1,481,236,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE raised its stake in 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 valued at $3,603,473,000 after acquiring an additional 3,101,267 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have weighed in on the company. Weiss Ratings downgraded Palo Alto Networks from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 4th. Benchmark upped 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. New Street Research set a $415.00 price target on Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $360.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 17th. Finally, UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $390.00 price objective (up from $300.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty have issued a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $362.67.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

NASDAQ PANW opened at $358.04 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $291.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 293.48, a PEG ratio of 11.74 and a beta of 0.91. The business’s 50 day moving average is $337.38 and its two-hundred day moving average is $241.72. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12-month low of $139.57 and a 12-month high of $398.88. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, June 2nd. The network technology company reported $0.85 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.06. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 10.53% and a net margin of 7.95%.The business had revenue of $3 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.94 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.37 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 31.1% compared to the same quarter last year. 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. Research analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.02 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, Director Aparna Bawa sold 290 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $348.74, for a total value of $101,134.60. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 6,437 shares in the company, valued at $2,244,839.38. This trade represents a 4.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Helle Thorning-Schmidt sold 700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $346.85, for a total transaction of $242,795.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 5,898 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,045,721.30. This represents a 10.61% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 37,935 shares of company stock worth $10,809,461. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.