Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Stock Price Up 1.6% – Should You Buy?

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)’s stock price was up 1.6% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $292.14 and last traded at $290.92. 5,420,480 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 43% from the average daily volume of 9,431,448 shares. The stock had previously closed at $286.40.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PANW has been the subject of several recent research reports. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $345.00 price target (up from $265.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. DA Davidson lifted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $190.00 to $345.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. HSBC boosted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $114.00 to $207.00 in a research report on Thursday, June 4th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $340.00 price target on Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group set a $335.00 price target on Palo Alto Networks and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-eight have given a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $306.59.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 2.8%

The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $235.79 and its 200 day simple moving average is $194.68. The company has a market capitalization of $238.95 billion, a PE ratio of 240.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 10.80 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, June 2nd. The network technology company reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 business had revenue of $3 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.94 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.37 earnings per share. The firm’s 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. As a group, analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.03 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 1,100 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $285.08, for a total value of $313,588.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 81,636 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,272,790.88. This represents a 1.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director John P. Key sold 7,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $279.24, for a total transaction of $2,094,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 12,500 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,490,500. This represents a 37.50% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 106,389 shares of company stock worth $27,570,630. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Aviva PLC lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 5.4% in the 4th quarter. Aviva PLC now owns 568,804 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $104,774,000 after acquiring an additional 29,230 shares during the period. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the 3rd quarter valued at $75,412,000. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 8.8% in the 4th quarter. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp now owns 48,458 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $8,926,000 after buying an additional 3,926 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 134.1% during the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 672,129 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $136,859,000 after purchasing an additional 384,985 shares in the last quarter. Finally, US Bancorp DE lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 1,364,442 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $277,828,000 after buying an additional 8,344 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

About Palo Alto Networks

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.