Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW Shares Sold by Sapient Capital LLC

Sapient Capital LLC cut its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 14.7% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 115,092 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 19,777 shares during the quarter. Palo Alto Networks accounts for about 0.6% of Sapient Capital LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 21st biggest holding. Sapient Capital LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $45,727,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of PANW. Trilogy Capital Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.8% in the second quarter. Trilogy Capital Inc. now owns 2,127 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $725,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. Wisconsin Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 1.2% during the 2nd quarter. Wisconsin Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,206 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,093,000 after buying an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Orrstown Financial Services Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.2% during the 2nd quarter. Orrstown Financial Services Inc. now owns 3,197 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,090,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. S.E.E.D. Planning Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 5.1% in the 3rd quarter. S.E.E.D. Planning Group LLC now owns 842 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $334,000 after acquiring an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Finally, American National Bank & Trust grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 11.2% in the 3rd quarter. American National Bank & Trust now owns 426 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $169,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 27,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $391.60, for a total transaction of $10,769,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 117,750 shares in the company, valued at $46,110,900. This trade represents a 18.93% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Josh Paul sold 400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $395.70, for a total transaction of $158,280.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 77,987 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $30,859,455.90. The trade was a 0.51% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 53,960 shares of company stock worth $20,719,959 over the last three months. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the company. Rosenblatt Securities raised their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $355.00 to $415.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 2nd. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $450.00 price objective (up from $400.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company restated an “overweight” rating and set a $475.00 target price (up from $420.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Monday, August 17th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $434.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Finally, Stephens set a $400.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 2nd. Thirty-eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $391.32.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

PANW stock traded down $7.07 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $398.50. 4,417,636 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,268,938. The firm has a market capitalization of $325.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 781.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 12.09 and a beta of 0.93. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $369.15 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $292.37. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a one year low of $139.57 and a one year 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.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, September 1st. The network technology company reported $1.02 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $3.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.35 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 2.67% and a return on equity of 8.50%. Palo Alto Networks’s quarterly revenue was up 34.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business 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. Equities research analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.31 EPS for the current year.

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.