Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Reaches New 12-Month High – Still a Buy?

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $379.52 and last traded at $373.69, with a volume of 132557 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $366.34.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Benchmark upped their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $270.00 to $340.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, June 1st. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $325.00 to $420.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 1st. Loop Capital raised their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $160.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Finally, Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $400.00 price target (up from $350.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty have given a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $333.76.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 2.5%

The company has a 50 day moving average of $311.92 and a 200 day moving average of $224.81. The firm has a market cap of $305.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 307.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 11.67 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04.

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. The firm had revenue of $3 billion during 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 business’s revenue for the quarter was up 31.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.37 earnings per share. 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, research analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.03 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $289.56, for a total value of $1,447,800.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 145,250 shares in the company, valued at $42,058,590. The trade was a 3.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Aparna Bawa sold 290 shares of the company’s 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 sale, the director directly owned 6,437 shares in the company, valued at $2,244,839.38. This represents a 4.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 101,239 shares of company stock worth $27,174,360 over the last ninety days. Company 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. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 15.0% in the first quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 410,401 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $65,796,000 after buying an additional 53,485 shares during the last quarter. Aviva PLC increased its position in Palo Alto Networks by 5.4% in the 4th quarter. Aviva PLC now owns 568,804 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $104,774,000 after acquiring an additional 29,230 shares in the last quarter. B&D White Capital Company LLC bought a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the first quarter worth about $353,000. Granite Islands Private Wealth LLC raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 43.6% in the first quarter. Granite Islands Private Wealth LLC now owns 15,342 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $2,453,000 after acquiring an additional 4,659 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 8.8% during the fourth quarter. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp now owns 48,458 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $8,926,000 after purchasing an additional 3,926 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.