Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) Stock Now Rated “Moderate Buy” by Sell-Side Analysts

Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) have been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the fifty ratings firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-eight have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12 month price target among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $391.32.

A number of analysts have issued reports on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $390.00 target price (up from $371.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Morgan Stanley set a $410.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 21st. Benchmark lifted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $340.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 24th. BTIG Research upped their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $404.00 to $425.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 28th. Finally, Barclays restated an “overweight” rating and set a $375.00 price objective (up from $370.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, September 2nd.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, CAO Josh Paul sold 900 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $373.68, for a total transaction of $336,312.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 72,484 shares in the company, valued at $27,085,821.12. This trade represents a 1.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 27,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 24th. The stock was 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. The trade was a 18.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 54,210 shares of company stock valued at $20,823,029. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter valued at $25,833,462,000. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 4.2% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 36,979,497 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $12,610,748,000 after purchasing an additional 1,493,179 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 0.9% in the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 22,681,876 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $7,734,973,000 after purchasing an additional 205,123 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 8.7% during the second quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 8,778,963 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $2,993,802,000 after buying an additional 706,003 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter valued at $1,968,304,000. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

PANW stock opened at $418.78 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $342.56 billion, a PE ratio of 821.15, a PEG ratio of 12.05 and a beta of 0.93. Palo Alto Networks has a 1 year low of $139.57 and a 1 year high of $432.33. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $370.88 and a 200 day simple moving average of $294.16. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 8.50% and a net margin of 2.67%. The business had revenue of $3.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.35 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.95 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 34.5% on a year-over-year basis. 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. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks will post 2.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.