Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Trading 5.5% Higher – Still a Buy?

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)’s share price shot up 5.5% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $367.50 and last traded at $366.34. 8,076,416 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 10% from the average session volume of 8,968,474 shares. The stock had previously closed at $347.13.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have weighed in on PANW. Citigroup reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $400.00 target price (up from $340.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Monday, July 13th. BTIG Research boosted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $333.00 to $380.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $209.00 to $253.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $255.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $220.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty have issued a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $332.57.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 5.5%

The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $309.73 and its 200-day simple moving average is $223.57. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $298.57 billion, a PE ratio of 300.28, a PEG ratio of 12.32 and a beta of 0.91.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, June 2nd. The network technology company reported $0.85 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 net margin of 7.95% and a return on equity of 10.53%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 31.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business 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. On average, analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $289.56, for a total transaction of $1,447,800.00. Following the completion of 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 through this hyperlink. Also, Director Helle Thorning-Schmidt sold 700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $346.85, for a total value of $242,795.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 5,898 shares in the company, valued at $2,045,721.30. This represents a 10.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 101,239 shares of company stock valued at $27,174,360 in the last ninety days. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of PANW. Darwin Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Steph & Co. raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 88.2% during the 4th quarter. Steph & Co. now owns 143 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 67 shares in the last quarter. Knuff & Co LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Sittner & Nelson LLC grew its position 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 worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Luken Investment Analytics LLC grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 196.2% in the fourth quarter. Luken Investment Analytics LLC now owns 154 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 102 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.