Lazard Asset Management LLC Acquires 939,344 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 82.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,073,481 shares of the network technology company’s stock after buying an additional 939,344 shares during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $332,421,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 147.7% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,761 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,230,000 after purchasing an additional 4,031 shares during the last quarter. Bison Wealth LLC boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 169.1% in the fourth quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 5,212 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $948,000 after buying an additional 3,275 shares in the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 66.3% in the second quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 3,484 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $713,000 after acquiring an additional 1,389 shares during the last quarter. Osterweis Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 11,100.0% during the second quarter. Osterweis Capital Management Inc. now owns 560 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $115,000 after acquiring an additional 555 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Main Street Financial Solutions LLC raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 6.0% during the second quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC now owns 4,398 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $900,000 after acquiring an additional 249 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PANW opened at $323.79 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $263.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 265.40, a P/E/G ratio of 12.02 and a beta of 0.91. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12-month low of $139.57 and a 12-month high of $368.80. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $300.79 and a 200 day simple moving average of $217.83. 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 (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, June 2nd. The network technology company reported $0.85 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $3 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.94 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 10.53% and a net margin of 7.95%.The business’s revenue was up 31.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company 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. Analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $345.00, for a total value of $310,500.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 79,644 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $27,477,180. This represents a 1.12% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director James J. Goetz sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $279.90, for a total transaction of $5,598,000.00. Following the sale, the director owned 20,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,598,000. This trade represents a 50.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 three months. Insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on PANW. Northland Securities raised their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $190.00 to $302.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $325.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 1st. BNP Paribas Exane increased their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $330.00 to $380.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $330.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Finally, TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $330.00 target price (up from $255.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty have given a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $331.48.

About Palo Alto Networks

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.