Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co Acquires New Shares in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund acquired 118,624 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $40,453,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Trilogy Capital Inc. increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.8% in the second quarter. Trilogy Capital Inc. now owns 2,127 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $725,000 after buying an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. Wisconsin Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter. Wisconsin Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,206 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,093,000 after buying an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Orrstown Financial Services Inc. boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter. Orrstown Financial Services Inc. now owns 3,197 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,090,000 after buying an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. GSG Advisors LLC grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. GSG Advisors LLC now owns 12,536 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $2,010,000 after acquiring an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arlington Trust Co LLC increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 8.5% during the 2nd quarter. Arlington Trust Co LLC now owns 703 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $240,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Palo Alto Networks news, Director Aparna Bawa sold 290 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $348.74, for a total transaction of $101,134.60. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 6,437 shares in the company, valued at $2,244,839.38. This represents a 4.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $289.56, for a total value of $1,447,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 145,250 shares in the company, valued at approximately $42,058,590. This trade represents a 3.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 37,935 shares of company stock valued at $10,809,461 in the last 90 days. 1.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PANW has been the subject of a number of research reports. Barclays restated an “overweight” rating and set a $370.00 target price (up from $315.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Berenberg Bank raised their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $290.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Wedbush lifted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $300.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $345.00 target price (up from $265.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Finally, BTIG Research increased their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $333.00 to $380.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty have issued a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $362.67.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $358.04 on Friday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1 year low of $139.57 and a 1 year high of $398.88. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $337.38 and a 200 day moving average price of $241.72. The company has a market cap of $291.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 293.48, a PEG ratio of 12.02 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 0.86.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, June 2nd. The network technology company reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $3 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.94 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 7.95% and a return on equity of 10.53%. Palo Alto Networks’s revenue was up 31.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.37 earnings per share. 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. Sell-side analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.02 earnings per share for the current year.

About Palo Alto Networks

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.