Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Given Buy Rating at BTIG Research

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reiterated by investment analysts at BTIG Research in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $200.00 price objective on the network technology company’s stock. BTIG Research’s target price points to a potential upside of 22.32% from the stock’s previous close.

PANW has been the subject of a number of other reports. Mizuho reduced their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $220.00 to $205.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $225.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. Cantor Fitzgerald set a $220.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Friday. Barclays set a $200.00 price objective on Palo Alto Networks and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 9th. Finally, Stephens boosted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. Thirty analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $220.74.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 2.1%

Shares of PANW stock opened at $163.50 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $113.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 103.48, a P/E/G ratio of 3.99 and a beta of 0.75. The business’s 50 day moving average is $181.06 and its two-hundred day moving average is $192.21. Palo Alto Networks has a 12-month low of $144.15 and a 12-month high of $223.61.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 17th. The network technology company reported $1.03 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.94 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $2.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.58 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 17.05% and a net margin of 11.69%.The business’s revenue was up 14.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.81 earnings per share. Palo Alto Networks has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.650-3.700 EPS and its Q3 2026 guidance at 0.780-0.800 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $188.18, for a total transaction of $940,900.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 155,119 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,190,293.42. The trade was a 3.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 800 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Friday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.81, for a total value of $147,848.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 46,005 shares in the company, valued at $8,502,184.05. This represents a 1.71% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders sold 260,542 shares of company stock worth $49,910,995. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Darwin Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter valued at $25,000. Steph & Co. grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 88.2% during the fourth quarter. Steph & Co. now owns 143 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 67 shares in the last quarter. Knuff & Co LLC acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 6,400.0% during the second quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 130 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 128 shares during the period. Finally, Sittner & Nelson LLC raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 73.8% in the fourth quarter. Sittner & Nelson LLC now owns 146 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Trending Headlines about Palo Alto Networks

Here are the key news stories impacting Palo Alto Networks this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q2 operational beat — Palo Alto reported $1.03 EPS and roughly $2.59B revenue, topping consensus and showing ~15% YoY revenue growth and 33% growth in Next?Generation Security ARR, supporting the company’s platform momentum. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Raised revenue outlook — Management lifted full?year revenue guidance to roughly $11.28B–$11.31B (from ~$10.5B prior), which signals stronger top?line expectations even as margins are pressured. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Product & research cadence — Palo Alto announced new offerings (MSIAM 2.0) and released its Unit 42 report on AI?driven threats, underscoring product innovation and thought leadership in AI security but with uncertain near?term financial impact. Article Title Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst tone mixed but constructive — Some sell?side checks (BTIG, others) stay positive on demand and firewall momentum though price targets have been trimmed amid sector valuation pressure. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Margin/earnings pressure from M&A — Reuters reports Palo Alto trimmed an annual profit forecast citing deal?related costs to bolster AI capabilities; that comment triggered an after?hours selloff as investors fretted about near?term margin dilution. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Guidance reaction — Media coverage noted the fiscal Q3 profit guidance and commentary disappointed some investors despite beats, contributing to the share decline in extended trading. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Acquisition noise — The announcement of an intent to acquire Koi (agentic endpoint focus) drew investor concern about integration and near?term costs; coverage linked the deal to the volatility. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Price target adjustments — Some analysts trimmed targets (e.g., Mizuho lowered to $205) reflecting valuation risks and near?term uncertainty even as ratings remain constructive. Article Title

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.