Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW Shares Acquired by Fifth Third Bancorp

Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 10.7% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,542,415 shares of the network technology company’s stock after buying an additional 149,111 shares during the quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $247,280,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of PANW. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 4.1% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 67,929,063 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $12,512,533,000 after acquiring an additional 2,659,100 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 30,331,705 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $5,587,100,000 after purchasing an additional 594,789 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 11.9% during the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 19,375,486 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $3,568,964,000 after purchasing an additional 2,065,776 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,989,257 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $2,934,935,000 after purchasing an additional 540,756 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,415,364,000. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Helle Thorning-Schmidt sold 700 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $346.85, for a total value of $242,795.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 5,898 shares in the company, valued at $2,045,721.30. This represents a 10.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Aparna Bawa sold 290 shares of the firm’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 completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 6,437 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,244,839.38. This represents a 4.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 101,239 shares of company stock valued at $27,174,360 in the last three months. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PANW traded down $12.40 during trading on Friday, hitting $325.91. The company had a trading volume of 4,677,069 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,047,614. The firm has a market capitalization of $265.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 267.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 12.10 and a beta of 0.91. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $274.08 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $206.64. 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, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $139.57 and a fifty-two week high of $368.17.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 last year, the company posted $0.37 EPS. Palo Alto Networks’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. On average, research analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently issued reports on PANW shares. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $209.00 to $253.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $255.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $330.00 price objective (up from $255.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Argus increased their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $222.00 to $320.00 in a research note on Friday, June 5th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $270.00 to $335.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have issued a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $318.65.

Palo Alto Networks 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.