Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Hits New 52-Week High – Still a Buy?

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)’s share price hit a new 52-week high during trading on Wednesday. The stock traded as high as $399.95 and last traded at $399.1930, with a volume of 952607 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $388.41.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently issued reports on PANW. Tigress Financial raised their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $245.00 to $430.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. New Street Research set a $415.00 price objective on Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday, August 18th. Robert W. Baird set a $420.00 target price on Palo Alto Networks and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 2nd. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Tuesday, June 16th. Finally, UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $390.00 price target (up from $300.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, August 19th. Thirty-eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $390.47.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 3.9%

The company has a quick ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. The stock has a market capitalization of $330.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 792.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 11.28 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $357.81 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $280.72.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, September 1st. The network technology company reported $1.02 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98 by $0.04. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 8.50% and a net margin of 2.67%.The company had revenue of $3.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.35 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.95 earnings per share. Palo Alto Networks’s revenue was up 34.5% compared to the same quarter last year. 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. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.31 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 27,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $391.60, for a total value of $10,769,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 117,750 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $46,110,900. This represents a 18.93% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Aparna Bawa sold 1,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $373.61, for a total value of $373,610.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 5,437 shares in the company, valued at $2,031,317.57. This represents a 15.54% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 54,260 shares of company stock valued at $20,804,474. 1.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Greenwich Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $405,000. QRG Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 20.9% in the second quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 103,822 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $35,405,000 after purchasing an additional 17,982 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 4.2% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 36,979,497 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $12,610,748,000 after purchasing an additional 1,493,179 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Altus USA Inc. grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 17.8% in the second quarter. Wellington Altus USA Inc. now owns 993 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $339,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Anchor Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 90.1% in the 2nd quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 325 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $111,000 after buying an additional 154 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Company Profile

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.