Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW Shares Sold by California Public Employees Retirement System

by · The Markets Daily

California Public Employees Retirement System cut its stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW – Free Report) by 15.6% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 1,441,498 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 265,644 shares during the quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $231,101,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of PANW. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 15.0% in the 1st quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 410,401 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $65,796,000 after buying an additional 53,485 shares during the last quarter. Aviva PLC lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 5.4% in the fourth quarter. Aviva PLC now owns 568,804 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $104,774,000 after acquiring an additional 29,230 shares during the last quarter. Granite Islands Private Wealth LLC lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 43.6% in the first quarter. Granite Islands Private Wealth LLC now owns 15,342 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $2,453,000 after acquiring an additional 4,659 shares during the last quarter. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 8.8% in the fourth quarter. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp now owns 48,458 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $8,926,000 after acquiring an additional 3,926 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Oak Thistle LLC acquired a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the fourth quarter valued at $1,554,000. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 1,100 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 1st. The shares were 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 owned 81,636 shares in the company, valued at $23,272,790.88. This trade represents a 1.33% 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, EVP Lee Klarich sold 62,904 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $258.65, for a total value of $16,270,119.60. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 235,983 shares in the company, valued at $61,037,002.95. This represents a 21.05% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 101,239 shares of company stock valued at $27,174,360 over the last ninety days. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on PANW. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $255.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus set a $340.00 price target on Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $270.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $345.00 price target (up from $265.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Finally, HSBC boosted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $114.00 to $207.00 in a research note on Thursday, June 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty have given a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $327.74.

Check Out Our Latest Stock Report on Palo Alto Networks

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of PANW opened at $358.68 on Friday. 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 $292.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 294.00, a P/E/G ratio of 13.14 and a beta of 0.91. The company’s fifty day moving average is $290.04 and its two-hundred day moving average is $212.30. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1 year low of $139.57 and a 1 year high of $368.80.

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

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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