Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW Holdings Cut by Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. trimmed its stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 18.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,874,031 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 414,881 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $744,571,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in PANW. B&D White Capital Company LLC bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the 1st quarter valued at about $353,000. Bridgewater Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter worth about $2,159,000. Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.6% in the third quarter. Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. now owns 240,029 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $95,366,000 after buying an additional 3,700 shares in the last quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 126.6% in the third quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. now owns 18,600 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $7,390,000 after buying an additional 10,392 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Evelyn Partners Investment Management Services Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 31.5% in the first quarter. Evelyn Partners Investment Management Services Ltd now owns 14,641 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $2,347,000 after buying an additional 3,505 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 27,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $391.60, for a total transaction of $10,769,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 117,750 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $46,110,900. The trade was a 18.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Aparna Bawa sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $373.61, for a total value of $373,610.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 5,437 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,031,317.57. The trade was a 15.54% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 54,210 shares of company stock worth $20,823,029 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 3.9%

PANW opened at $365.87 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1-year low of $139.57 and a 1-year high of $432.33. The company has a market capitalization of $299.56 billion, a PE ratio of 717.41, a PEG ratio of 10.49 and a beta of 0.93. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $372.15 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $269.89.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, September 1st. The network technology company reported $1.02 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.98 by $0.04. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 2.67% and a return on equity of 8.50%. The business had revenue of $3.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.35 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.95 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 34.5% compared to the same quarter last year. 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 forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.32 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently weighed in on PANW. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $425.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Tuesday, September 8th. Scotiabank cut Palo Alto Networks from a “sector outperform” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Morgan Stanley set a $410.00 target price on Palo Alto Networks and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 21st. Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Monday, August 31st. Finally, UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $390.00 price target (up from $300.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, August 19th. 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, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $398.55.

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.