Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Trading Up 2.5% – Time to Buy?

Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) shot up 2.5% on Friday . The stock traded as high as $170.49 and last traded at $166.95. 12,049,947 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 19% from the average session volume of 10,142,253 shares. The stock had previously closed at $162.81.

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.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. Evercore lifted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $220.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 13th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $230.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, January 28th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Mizuho set a $220.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday, December 16th. Finally, Stephens upped their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 20th. Thirty-one analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $223.97.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 2.5%

The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $182.90 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $192.53. The company has a market capitalization of $116.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 105.66, a P/E/G ratio of 3.94 and a beta of 0.75.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $2.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.46 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 17.05% and a net margin of 11.69%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.56 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Palo Alto Networks news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 800 shares of the firm’s 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 completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 46,005 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,502,184.05. This trade represents a 1.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $188.18, for a total transaction of $940,900.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 155,119 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,190,293.42. This trade represents a 3.12% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 260,542 shares of company stock worth $49,910,995 in the last three months. Insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in PANW. Visionary Wealth Advisors grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 5.9% during the fourth quarter. Visionary Wealth Advisors now owns 3,141 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $579,000 after buying an additional 176 shares during the last quarter. Williams Jones Wealth Management LLC. lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. Williams Jones Wealth Management LLC. now owns 2,237 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $412,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares during the period. PCM Encore LLC purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the 4th quarter valued at about $479,000. Fairfield Bush & CO. increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. Fairfield Bush & CO. now owns 5,709 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,052,000 after purchasing an additional 230 shares during the period. Finally, Stifel Financial Corp raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 2,151,402 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $396,288,000 after purchasing an additional 6,561 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

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.