Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW Position Cut by Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG

Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG trimmed its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 35.1% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 74,863 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 40,464 shares during the period. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $29,744,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Solstein Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter worth about $26,000. N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter worth about $27,000. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter valued at about $28,000. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 125.0% during the 2nd quarter. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 81 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. Finally, EMC Capital Management bought a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $34,000. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of Palo Alto Networks stock traded down $6.48 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $340.47. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,868,833 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,139,018. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a one year low of $139.57 and a one year high of $432.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a current ratio of 0.87. The firm has a market cap of $278.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 667.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 9.84 and a beta of 0.93. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $371.90 and its 200-day moving average price is $303.36.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced 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 firm had revenue of $3.41 billion during 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 firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 34.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $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, equities research analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.31 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Robert W. Baird set a $420.00 target price on Palo Alto Networks and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Capital One Financial increased their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $421.00 to $428.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 2nd. DA Davidson lifted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $345.00 to $420.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 2nd. BNP Paribas Exane boosted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $380.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 2nd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $415.00 price objective (up from $335.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Thursday, August 20th. Thirty-nine investment 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.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 27,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Aparna Bawa sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $373.61, for a total transaction of $373,610.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 5,437 shares in the company, valued at $2,031,317.57. This trade represents a 15.54% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 54,210 shares of company stock valued at $20,823,029. 1.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.