Gradient Investments LLC Sells 57,700 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Gradient Investments LLC lessened its stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 32.9% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 117,516 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 57,700 shares during the quarter. Gradient Investments LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $46,690,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter valued at approximately $25,833,462,000. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 4.2% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 36,979,497 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $12,610,748,000 after purchasing an additional 1,493,179 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE increased its position in Palo Alto Networks by 0.9% during the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 22,681,876 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $7,734,973,000 after buying an additional 205,123 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 8.7% during the second quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 8,778,963 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $2,993,802,000 after buying an additional 706,003 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 4.4% in the first quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 6,466,118 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,036,648,000 after buying an additional 273,103 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PANW traded down $6.03 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $399.54. The company had a trading volume of 1,884,136 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,254,140. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12 month low of $139.57 and a 12 month high of $432.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.87. The firm has a market cap of $326.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 786.06, a PEG ratio of 12.09 and a beta of 0.93. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $367.69 and its 200-day simple moving average is $290.71.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, September 1st. The network technology company reported $1.02 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $3.41 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.35 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 8.50% and a net margin of 2.67%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 34.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.95 EPS. Palo Alto Networks has set its FY 2027 guidance at 4.160-4.190 EPS and its Q1 2027 guidance at 0.960-0.980 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on PANW. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $425.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “buy” rating and issued a $430.00 price objective (up from $350.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, September 2nd. Robert W. Baird set a $420.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 2nd. Mizuho set a $415.00 price target on Palo Alto Networks and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 19th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $434.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 2nd. Thirty-eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $391.32.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 27,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $391.60, for a total value of $10,769,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 117,750 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $46,110,900. This represents a 18.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Aparna Bawa sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $373.61, for a total transaction of $373,610.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 5,437 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,031,317.57. This represents a 15.54% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 53,960 shares of company stock worth $20,719,959. Insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

About Palo Alto Networks

Palo Alto Networks, Inc is a cybersecurity company that provides solutions designed to help organizations protect networks, endpoints, cloud environments, applications and users from cyber threats. Its offerings include next-generation firewalls, cloud-delivered security services, secure access service edge (SASE) solutions, endpoint protection and security operations tools.

The company also provides platforms and services for cloud security, threat intelligence, incident response, vulnerability management and the automation of security operations.