Lynch Asset Management Inc. Takes $11.78 Million Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Lynch Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 34,550 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,782,000. Palo Alto Networks accounts for 3.2% of Lynch Asset Management Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 6th biggest position.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Darwin Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter valued at $25,000. Knuff & Co LLC bought a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the 4th quarter worth $26,000. Sittner & Nelson LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 73.8% during the fourth quarter. Sittner & Nelson LLC now owns 146 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. Luken Investment Analytics LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 196.2% during the fourth quarter. Luken Investment Analytics LLC now owns 154 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 102 shares in the last quarter. Finally, WHI TRUST Co LLC bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on PANW shares. Northland Securities upped 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. Citigroup reissued a “market outperform” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday. Evercore restated an “outperform” rating and set a $415.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. FBN Securities reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $270.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty have issued a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $339.61.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director John P. Key sold 7,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $279.24, for a total transaction of $2,094,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 12,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,490,500. This represents a 37.50% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the executive vice president owned 145,250 shares in the company, valued at $42,058,590. This represents a 3.33% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 101,239 shares of company stock worth $27,174,360. 1.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

PANW stock opened at $384.27 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $313.18 billion, a PE ratio of 314.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 12.89 and a beta of 0.91. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $328.02 and a 200 day simple moving average of $235.70. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52 week low of $139.57 and a 52 week high of $398.88. 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 posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, June 2nd. The network technology company reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.06. The business 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%. Palo Alto Networks’s revenue was up 31.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.37 earnings per share. 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. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.