Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Upgraded by Capital One Financial to Strong-Buy Rating

Capital One Financial upgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) from a hold rating to a strong-buy rating in a research note released on Thursday,Zacks.com reports.

Other equities analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Needham & Company LLC increased their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $350.00 to $425.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. Wolfe Research restated an “outperform” rating and set a $320.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Argus upped their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $222.00 to $320.00 in a report on Friday, June 5th. Citigroup reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $400.00 target price (up from $340.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Monday. Finally, Benchmark lifted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $270.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have given a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $327.74.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 0.0%

NASDAQ:PANW opened at $353.99 on Thursday. Palo Alto Networks has a 1 year low of $139.57 and a 1 year high of $368.17. The stock has a market cap of $288.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 290.16, a P/E/G ratio of 13.15 and a beta of 0.91. 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 stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $287.03 and a 200-day simple moving average of $211.27.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, June 2nd. The network technology company reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 business’s quarterly revenue was up 31.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last 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. As a group, analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks will post 2.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, Director Helle Thorning-Schmidt sold 700 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $346.85, for a total value of $242,795.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 5,898 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,045,721.30. This trade represents a 10.61% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 900 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $345.00, for a total value of $310,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 79,644 shares in the company, valued at approximately $27,477,180. The trade was a 1.12% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 101,239 shares of company stock worth $27,174,360 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Allied Private Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter worth $38,000. Darwin Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter valued at about $25,000. Knuff & Co LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Steph & Co. increased its stake 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 acquiring an additional 67 shares during the period. Finally, Sittner & Nelson LLC increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 73.8% during the fourth quarter. Sittner & Nelson LLC now owns 146 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 62 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.