Aptus Capital Advisors LLC Purchases 28,862 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Aptus Capital Advisors LLC grew its position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 268.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 39,611 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 28,862 shares during the quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $7,296,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Aviva PLC lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 5.4% during the 4th quarter. Aviva PLC now owns 568,804 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $104,774,000 after acquiring an additional 29,230 shares during the period. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 3rd quarter valued at $75,412,000. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 8.8% during the 4th quarter. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp now owns 48,458 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $8,926,000 after acquiring an additional 3,926 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 134.1% during the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 672,129 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $136,859,000 after acquiring an additional 384,985 shares during the period. Finally, US Bancorp DE lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 1,364,442 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $277,828,000 after acquiring an additional 8,344 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

PANW opened at $284.54 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $231.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 233.23, a PEG ratio of 10.38 and a beta of 0.94. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $218.86 and a 200 day moving average of $189.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 0.86. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $139.57 and a fifty-two week high of $302.95.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, June 2nd. The network technology company reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $3 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.94 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 7.95% and a return on equity of 10.53%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 31.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $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. On average, research analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.03 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Palo Alto Networks news, CEO Nikesh Arora bought 68,085 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 27th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $146.87 per share, for a total transaction of $9,999,643.95. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 343,394 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $50,434,276.78. This trade represents a 24.73% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 62,904 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $258.65, for a total transaction of $16,270,119.60. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 235,983 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $61,037,002.95. This represents a 21.05% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 81,044 shares of company stock valued at $20,424,722. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have weighed in on PANW shares. Berenberg Bank upped their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $290.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Benchmark upped their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $270.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Needham & Company LLC upped their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $255.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $340.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-seven have assigned a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $306.59.

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.