Geode Capital Management LLC Boosts Stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 15,174,029 shares of the network technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 169,055 shares during the quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $3,093,262,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in PANW. Whipplewood Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 6,400.0% in the 2nd quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 130 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 128 shares in the last quarter. Briaud Financial Planning Inc purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $28,000. Dagco Inc. acquired a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the 1st quarter valued at $33,000. Marshall & Sullivan Inc. WA acquired a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter valued at $41,000. Finally, Spurstone Advisory Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter worth $41,000. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $204.19, for a total transaction of $1,020,950.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 96,135 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,629,805.65. The trade was a 4.94% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $191.11, for a total transaction of $23,081,119.14. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 177,954 shares in the company, valued at $34,008,788.94. This represents a 40.43% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 1,215,830 shares of company stock valued at $249,160,428 over the last ninety days. 2.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of PANW opened at $218.27 on Wednesday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12 month low of $144.15 and a 12 month high of $223.61. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $208.24 and its two-hundred day moving average is $196.75. The stock has a market cap of $149.29 billion, a PE ratio of 135.99, a P/E/G ratio of 5.15 and a beta of 0.95.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 18th. The network technology company reported $0.95 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $2.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.50 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 17.66% and a net margin of 12.30%.Palo Alto Networks’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.75 EPS. Palo Alto Networks has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.750-3.850 EPS. Q1 2026 guidance at 0.880-0.900 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently commented on PANW shares. UBS Group set a $250.00 target price on Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday. Citigroup reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Monday, October 27th. JMP Securities raised their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $212.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 27th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $215.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein set a $207.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 19th. Thirty investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $218.67.

Palo Alto Networks Company Profile

Palo Alto Networks, Inc provides cybersecurity solutions worldwide. The company offers firewall appliances and software; and Panorama, a security management solution for the global control of network security platform as a virtual or a physical appliance. It also provides subscription services covering the areas of threat prevention, malware and persistent threat, URL filtering, laptop and mobile device protection, DNS security, Internet of Things security, SaaS security API, and SaaS security inline, as well as threat intelligence, and data loss prevention.