New Mexico Educational Retirement Board Buys 9,800 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

New Mexico Educational Retirement Board lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 32.2% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 40,200 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 9,800 shares during the quarter. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $13,709,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter valued at about $25,833,462,000. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,415,364,000. Legal & General Group Plc bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,968,304,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,569,755,000. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,481,236,000. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, Director Aparna Bawa sold 290 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $348.74, for a total transaction of $101,134.60. Following the sale, the director owned 6,437 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,244,839.38. The trade was a 4.31% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $289.56, for a total value of $1,447,800.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 145,250 shares in the company, valued at approximately $42,058,590. The trade was a 3.33% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 38,835 shares of company stock worth $11,127,854 in the last quarter. 1.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

More Palo Alto Networks News

Here are the key news stories impacting Palo Alto Networks this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Benchmark raised its price target to $400 from $340 and maintained a Buy rating, citing potential upside to next-generation security annual recurring revenue, revenue, operating income and margins. The forecast reinforces expectations that Palo Alto Networks’ AI-security strategy is gaining traction. Palo Alto Networks Gets a $400 Target
• Positive Sentiment: Investors are taking confidence from CrowdStrike’s stronger-than-expected results, which highlighted robust AI-related cybersecurity demand and lifted sentiment across the sector. Palo Alto Networks is viewed as a potential beneficiary of the same spending cycle. Palo Alto Networks Stock Trades Up
• Positive Sentiment: Platformization, adoption of AI-security products and recent deal wins are expected to support fourth-quarter growth. BTIG also assigned PANW a Buy rating, adding to broadly favorable analyst coverage. Palo Alto Networks to Report Q4 Earnings
• Neutral Sentiment: Earnings are the next major catalyst. Traders expect potentially significant movement after the report, while analysts are watching recurring revenue, margins, operating income and guidance—not just revenue and EPS. Expected Post-Earnings Stock Move
• Negative Sentiment: Acquisition-related costs could pressure results, and the stock’s triple-digit P/E ratio—above 300 based on the supplied data—means much of the AI-growth outlook may already be reflected in the price. Any shortfall in growth or guidance could trigger profit-taking. Palo Alto’s Rally Has One Big Problem Ahead of Earnings
• Negative Sentiment: Chief Accounting Officer Josh D. Paul sold 900 shares for approximately $318,000, reducing his position by 1.21%. The transaction is small relative to his remaining holdings but may create a modest sentiment headwind. Palo Alto Networks Insider Sale

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 2.9%

Shares of Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $371.59 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $344.62 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $248.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $302.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 304.58, a PEG ratio of 11.74 and a beta of 0.91. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12-month low of $139.57 and a 12-month high of $398.88. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, June 2nd. The network technology company reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79 by $0.06. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 7.95% and a return on equity of 10.53%. The firm had revenue of $3 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.94 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.37 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 31.1% compared to the same quarter last year. 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 2.01 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on PANW. Morgan Stanley set a $400.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Monday, August 17th. Northland Securities increased their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $190.00 to $302.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Robert W. Baird set a $320.00 price objective on Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $434.00 target price (up from $330.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Friday, August 14th. Finally, Berenberg Bank upped their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $290.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty have issued a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $368.42.

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.