Welch Group LLC Buys 8,692 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

by · The Markets Daily

Welch Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW – Free Report) by 21.1% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 49,841 shares of the network technology company’s stock after buying an additional 8,692 shares during the quarter. Welch Group LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $7,991,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of PANW. South Plains Financial Inc. boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. South Plains Financial Inc. now owns 4,823 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $982,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Fayez Sarofim & Co grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Fayez Sarofim & Co now owns 4,310 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $878,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the period. Certified Advisory Corp raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Certified Advisory Corp now owns 16,938 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $3,449,000 after acquiring an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. Cooper Financial Group raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Cooper Financial Group now owns 4,227 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $779,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Outfitters Financial LLC lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Outfitters Financial LLC now owns 3,265 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $601,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on PANW shares. Guggenheim lowered Palo Alto Networks from a “neutral” rating to a “reduce” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 27th. Loop Capital increased their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $160.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Northland Securities raised their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $190.00 to $302.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $265.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities upped their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $275.00 to $355.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-eight have given a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $306.59.

Check Out Our Latest Research Report on Palo Alto Networks

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

PANW opened at $304.20 on Friday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $241.22 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $196.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 0.86. The stock has a market capitalization of $247.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 249.34, a P/E/G ratio of 10.88 and a beta of 0.94. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52-week low of $139.57 and a 52-week high of $306.24.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW – Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, June 2nd. The network technology company reported $0.85 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79 by $0.06. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 7.95% and a return on equity of 10.53%. The firm had revenue of $3 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.94 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.37 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 31.1% on a year-over-year basis. 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. As a group, analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.03 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director John P. Key sold 7,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $279.24, for a total value of $2,094,300.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 12,500 shares in the company, valued at $3,490,500. This trade represents a 37.50% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 1,100 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $285.08, for a total value of $313,588.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 81,636 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,272,790.88. The trade was a 1.33% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 106,389 shares of company stock worth $27,570,630 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Company Profile

(Free Report)

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.

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