Welch & Forbes LLC Has $48.19 Million Stock Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Welch & Forbes LLC lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 28.2% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 300,564 shares of the network technology company’s stock after buying an additional 66,141 shares during the period. Welch & Forbes LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $48,186,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 18.3% in the 1st quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 188,235 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $30,178,000 after purchasing an additional 29,137 shares during the last quarter. Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 932.7% during the first quarter. Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. now owns 197,529 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $31,668,000 after buying an additional 178,401 shares during the last quarter. Cullinan Associates Inc. raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.7% during the first quarter. Cullinan Associates Inc. now owns 6,100 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $978,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 2.4% in the first quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 43,252 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $6,934,000 after buying an additional 1,018 shares during the period. Finally, Midwest Trust Co lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 1.6% in the first quarter. Midwest Trust Co now owns 89,601 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $14,365,000 after buying an additional 1,405 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, Director Helle Thorning-Schmidt sold 700 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $346.85, for a total value of $242,795.00. Following the sale, the director owned 5,898 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,045,721.30. This trade represents a 10.61% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $289.56, for a total transaction of $1,447,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 145,250 shares in the company, valued at approximately $42,058,590. This represents a 3.33% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 101,239 shares of company stock valued at $27,174,360 over the last quarter. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have commented on PANW shares. Argus lifted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $222.00 to $320.00 in a report on Friday, June 5th. Guggenheim cut Palo Alto Networks from a “neutral” rating to a “reduce” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $345.00 price objective (up from $265.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Berenberg Bank raised their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $290.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Finally, Citigroup restated a “market outperform” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have issued a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $318.65.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 3.7%

Shares of PANW traded down $12.40 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $325.91. The stock had a trading volume of 4,677,069 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,047,614. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52 week low of $139.57 and a 52 week high of $368.17. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $274.08 and a 200 day moving average of $206.64. The company has a market cap of $265.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 267.14, a P/E/G ratio of 12.10 and a beta of 0.91.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $3 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.94 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 10.53% and a net margin of 7.95%.The firm’s revenue was up 31.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $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 expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Palo Alto Networks 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.