Kimelman & Baird LLC Purchases New Shares in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Kimelman & Baird LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 3,064 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,045,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 15.0% in the 1st quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 410,401 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $65,796,000 after buying an additional 53,485 shares during the last quarter. Aviva PLC boosted its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 29,230 shares during the last quarter. B&D White Capital Company LLC bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 1st quarter worth $353,000. Bridgewater Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter valued at approximately $2,159,000. Finally, Granite Islands Private Wealth LLC raised its position in Palo Alto Networks by 43.6% in the first quarter. Granite Islands Private Wealth LLC now owns 15,342 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $2,453,000 after acquiring an additional 4,659 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, Director Helle Thorning-Schmidt sold 700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $346.85, for a total transaction of $242,795.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 5,898 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,045,721.30. This trade represents a 10.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Aparna Bawa sold 290 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $348.74, for a total value of $101,134.60. Following the transaction, the director directly 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 disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 38,835 shares of company stock worth $11,127,854 in the last three months. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks News Summary

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 NASDAQ PANW opened at $371.59 on Friday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a twelve month low of $139.57 and a twelve month high of $398.88. The firm has a market cap of $302.85 billion, a PE ratio of 304.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 12.10 and a beta of 0.91. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $344.62 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $248.45. 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 (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, June 2nd. The network technology company reported $0.85 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $3 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.94 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 10.53% and a net margin of 7.95%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 31.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $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. Analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently weighed in on PANW shares. Needham & Company LLC upped their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $350.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $450.00 target price (up from $335.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Friday. Benchmark increased their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $340.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 24th. Citizens Jmp increased their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $320.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 12th. Finally, Truist Financial set a $435.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty have given a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price 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.