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

Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) have earned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the forty-eight analysts that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, forty have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $364.00.

PANW has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Wolfe Research reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $320.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $370.00 price target (up from $315.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. DA Davidson increased their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $190.00 to $345.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Evercore restated an “outperform” rating and set a $415.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. Finally, Northland Securities lifted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $190.00 to $302.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

NASDAQ:PANW opened at $350.90 on Tuesday. Palo Alto Networks has a 52-week low of $139.57 and a 52-week high of $398.88. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $338.70 and a 200 day moving average of $243.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 0.86. The firm has a market capitalization of $285.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 287.62, a P/E/G ratio of 12.00 and a beta of 0.91.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, June 2nd. The network technology company reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $3 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.94 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 10.53% and a net margin of 7.95%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 31.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.37 EPS. 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. On average, research analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks will post 2.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, Director Aparna Bawa sold 290 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $348.74, for a total transaction of $101,134.60. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 6,437 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,244,839.38. The trade was a 4.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Helle Thorning-Schmidt sold 700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $346.85, for a total value of $242,795.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 5,898 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,045,721.30. The trade was a 10.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 37,935 shares of company stock valued at $10,809,461. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Palo Alto Networks

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Brighton Jones LLC raised its position in Palo Alto Networks by 147.7% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,761 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,230,000 after purchasing an additional 4,031 shares during the period. Bison Wealth LLC lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 169.1% in the fourth quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 5,212 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $948,000 after purchasing an additional 3,275 shares during the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 66.3% during the second quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 3,484 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $713,000 after buying an additional 1,389 shares during the period. Osterweis Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 11,100.0% during the second quarter. Osterweis Capital Management Inc. now owns 560 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $115,000 after buying an additional 555 shares during the period. Finally, Main Street Financial Solutions LLC grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 6.0% during the second quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC now owns 4,398 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $900,000 after buying an additional 249 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.