Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) has been given an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the forty-nine research firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, eight have assigned a hold recommendation, thirty-nine have given a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $316.1522.

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on PANW shares. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $275.00 to $375.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Mizuho increased their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $265.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. BNP Paribas Exane upped their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $330.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 1st. Needham & Company LLC raised their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $350.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Finally, Loop Capital raised their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $160.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Aparna Bawa sold 290 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $348.74, for a total transaction of $101,134.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 6,437 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,244,839.38. This trade represents a 4.31% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 900 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $345.00, for a total value of $310,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 79,644 shares in the company, valued at $27,477,180. The trade was a 1.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 102,111 shares of company stock worth $27,204,024 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. South Plains Financial Inc. grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 1.0% in the third quarter. South Plains Financial Inc. now owns 4,823 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $982,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Fayez Sarofim & Co increased its position in Palo Alto Networks by 1.2% during the third quarter. Fayez Sarofim & Co now owns 4,310 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $878,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the period. Certified Advisory Corp increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 0.3% during the third quarter. Certified Advisory Corp now owns 16,938 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $3,449,000 after acquiring an additional 51 shares during the period. GSG Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 0.4% in the first quarter. GSG Advisors LLC now owns 12,536 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $2,010,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cooper Financial Group raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Cooper Financial Group now owns 4,227 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $779,000 after buying an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

NASDAQ PANW opened at $348.06 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.86. Palo Alto Networks has a 1-year low of $139.57 and a 1-year high of $358.10. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $258.43 and its 200-day simple moving average is $201.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $283.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 285.30, a P/E/G ratio of 12.92 and a beta of 0.91.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, June 2nd. The network technology company reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.06. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 7.95% and a return on equity of 10.53%. The company had revenue of $3 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.94 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.37 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 31.1% compared to the same quarter last year. 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. Equities analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks will post 2.03 EPS for the current year.

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.