Vestcor Inc Has $3.90 Million Stock Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Vestcor Inc trimmed its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 26.4% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 19,172 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 6,879 shares during the quarter. Vestcor Inc’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $3,904,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of PANW. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the second quarter valued at $675,865,000. ABN AMRO Bank N.V. bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter worth about $340,883,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 108.3% during the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,467,692 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $502,263,000 after purchasing an additional 1,282,738 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 65,269,963 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $13,290,270,000 after purchasing an additional 1,253,589 shares during the last quarter. Finally, California Public Employees Retirement System boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 97.9% in the second quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 2,104,939 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $430,755,000 after buying an additional 1,041,145 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. BTIG Research reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $200.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Guggenheim restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Arete Research raised Palo Alto Networks from a “sell” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $185.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 3rd. Argus raised shares of Palo Alto Networks to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 20th. Finally, Westpark Capital reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, November 20th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have issued a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $210.19.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.81, for a total value of $147,848.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 46,005 shares in the company, valued at $8,502,184.05. The trade was a 1.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $188.18, for a total transaction of $940,900.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 155,119 shares in the company, valued at $29,190,293.42. This represents a 3.12% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 149,252 shares of company stock worth $27,888,535 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

PANW stock opened at $165.58 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $135.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 91.48, a PEG ratio of 5.96 and a beta of 0.78. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $170.80 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $189.91. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $139.57 and a fifty-two week high of $223.61.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 17th. The network technology company reported $1.03 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.94 by $0.09. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 17.60% and a net margin of 12.96%.The business had revenue of $2.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.58 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.81 earnings per share. Palo Alto Networks’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Palo Alto Networks has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.650-3.700 EPS and its Q3 2026 guidance at 0.780-0.800 EPS. Research analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.

Palo Alto Networks Company Profile

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.