Pallas Capital Advisors LLC Trims Stock Holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Pallas Capital Advisors LLC lowered its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 16.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 23,085 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 4,468 shares during the period. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $4,701,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 5.1% during the 3rd quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D now owns 232,727 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $47,388,000 after purchasing an additional 11,247 shares during the period. Pursue Wealth Partners LLC grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 83.5% during the 3rd quarter. Pursue Wealth Partners LLC now owns 10,764 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $2,192,000 after buying an additional 4,898 shares in the last quarter. Calton & Associates Inc. increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 15.0% during the third quarter. Calton & Associates Inc. now owns 2,511 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $511,000 after buying an additional 328 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2.7% in the third quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 249,413 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $50,785,000 after buying an additional 6,562 shares in the last quarter. Finally, HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 11.7% in the third quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 712,780 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $145,136,000 after acquiring an additional 74,826 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on PANW shares. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $225.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, November 20th. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $215.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 20th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 14th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities lowered their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $250.00 to $225.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Thirty-one research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $223.97.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 800 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.81, for a total value of $147,848.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 46,005 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,502,184.05. The trade was a 1.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director James J. Goetz sold 12,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $195.33, for a total value of $2,441,625.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 75,184 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,685,690.72. This trade represents a 14.26% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 260,542 shares of company stock worth $49,910,995 in the last quarter. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 2.5%

Shares of PANW stock opened at $166.95 on Monday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $182.26 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $192.32. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12-month low of $144.15 and a 12-month high of $223.61. The firm has a market cap of $116.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 105.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.99 and a beta of 0.75.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.89 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $2.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.46 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 17.05% and a net margin of 11.69%.Palo Alto Networks’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.56 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Key Stories Impacting Palo Alto Networks

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

• Positive Sentiment: Long-term bull case highlighted — several analyst/commentary pieces argue PANW remains a structural growth name in cybersecurity and a smart buy for long-term investors. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Company growth deals and product momentum are cited as offsets to recent analyst cuts, reinforcing the view that near-term analyst noise may not derail multi-year growth. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Q2 preview: Zacks notes PANW is entering Q2 with mid‑teen revenue growth expectations but flags decelerating ARR momentum and a premium valuation — a key focus for the upcoming print. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Market commentary: PANW recently dropped more than the broader market in intraday moves, reflecting short-term volatility ahead of earnings. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Analyst price-target cuts: JPMorgan lowered its PANW target to $225, and other firms (Rosenblatt, BTIG) trimmed targets (Rosenblatt to $225; BTIG to $200), which reduces near-term upside expectations despite some firms maintaining “buy” ratings. Read More. Read More. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Deal and listing risk: reports say PANW plans a dual listing on the Tel‑Aviv Stock Exchange after closing the ~$25B CyberArk acquisition — there’s short‑term investor concern about integration complexity and political/geographic exposure. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Geopolitical/reputational risk: Reuters reports PANW opted not to publicly tie China to a recent global hacking campaign it exposed, citing fears of retaliation — this raises potential client, regulatory and reputation considerations. Read More.

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.