Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Stock Price Up 13.1% – Should You Buy?

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)’s stock price shot up 13.1% during trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $378.60 and last traded at $373.94. Approximately 11,833,580 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 39% from the average daily volume of 8,510,453 shares. The stock had previously closed at $330.65.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on PANW shares. Rosenblatt Securities upped their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $355.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Benchmark raised 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. Argus restated a “buy” rating and set a $425.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Thursday, September 3rd. Evercore reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Monday, August 31st. Finally, Mizuho set a $415.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 19th. Thirty-nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $387.60.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $350.34 and a 200 day simple moving average of $265.14. The company has a market cap of $306.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 735.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 10.79 and a beta of 0.91.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, September 1st. The network technology company reported $1.02 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.98 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $3.41 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.35 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 8.50% and a net margin of 2.67%.The company’s revenue was up 34.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.95 earnings per share. 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. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, Director Helle Thorning-Schmidt sold 700 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $346.85, for a total transaction of $242,795.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 5,898 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,045,721.30. This represents a 10.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Aparna Bawa sold 290 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $348.74, for a total value of $101,134.60. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 6,437 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,244,839.38. This represents a 4.31% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 9,667 shares of company stock worth $3,058,443 in the last quarter. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Palo Alto Networks

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PANW. Anchor Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 90.1% in the 2nd quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 325 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $111,000 after purchasing an additional 154 shares in the last quarter. Reynders McVeigh Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter worth $382,000. Bullseye Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter valued at $55,000. Marathon Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 4.4% during the 2nd quarter. Marathon Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 13,115 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $4,472,000 after acquiring an additional 554 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bouchey Financial Group Ltd. increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 4.1% in the 2nd quarter. Bouchey Financial Group Ltd. now owns 2,664 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $908,000 after purchasing an additional 106 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Palo Alto Networks

Palo Alto Networks, Inc is a cybersecurity company that provides security products and services to businesses, governments and other organizations worldwide. The company helps customers protect networks, cloud environments, endpoints, applications and connected devices from cyber threats.

Its portfolio includes next-generation firewalls and network security technologies, as well as cloud-delivered security solutions such as Prisma Access and Prisma Cloud. Palo Alto Networks also offers Cortex products for endpoint protection, security operations, threat detection and response, and automation.