Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Shares Climb 2% – What’s Next?

Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) traded up 2% on Wednesday. The company traded as high as $354.42 and last traded at $347.25. 5,136,799 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 37% from the average session volume of 8,128,534 shares. The stock had previously closed at $340.28.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on PANW. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $425.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday, September 8th. DA Davidson upped their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $345.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 2nd. Susquehanna increased their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $350.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $375.00 price objective (up from $370.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Finally, Capital One Financial boosted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $421.00 to $428.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Thirty-nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $398.55.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 7.0%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a current ratio of 0.87. The company has a market cap of $310.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 743.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 9.99 and a beta of 0.93. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $369.41 and a two-hundred day moving average of $307.28.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, September 1st. The network technology company reported $1.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98 by $0.04. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 8.50% and a net margin of 2.67%. The business had revenue of $3.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.35 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.95 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 34.5% compared to the same quarter last year. 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, equities research analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.31 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 27,500 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $391.60, for a total value of $10,769,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 117,750 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $46,110,900. This trade represents a 18.93% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Aparna Bawa sold 250 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $412.28, for a total value of $103,070.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 4,427 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,825,163.56. This represents a 5.35% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 54,210 shares of company stock worth $20,823,029 in the last ninety days. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of PANW. Simplicity Wealth LLC raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 15.4% during the third quarter. Simplicity Wealth LLC now owns 6,807 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $2,704,000 after purchasing an additional 910 shares during the last quarter. One Wealth Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 201.7% in the third quarter. One Wealth Capital Management LLC now owns 2,145 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $852,000 after purchasing an additional 1,434 shares during the last quarter. Gibbs Wealth Management grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 39.2% in the 3rd quarter. Gibbs Wealth Management now owns 1,523 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $605,000 after purchasing an additional 429 shares during the period. Lantern Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 19.8% in the 3rd quarter. Lantern Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,586 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $630,000 after purchasing an additional 262 shares during the period. Finally, Garrett Wealth Advisory Group LLC raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 18.0% during the 3rd quarter. Garrett Wealth Advisory Group LLC now owns 846 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $336,000 after buying an additional 129 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Palo Alto Networks Company Profile

Palo Alto Networks, Inc (NASDAQ:PANW) is a global cybersecurity company that helps organizations protect networks, cloud environments, endpoints, and digital infrastructure. Its offerings are designed to prevent cyberattacks, identify security risks, monitor activity, and support incident response across enterprise, government, and service-provider environments.

The company’s portfolio includes network security products such as next-generation firewalls and security operations tools; Prisma, its cloud security platform; and Cortex, a suite focused on endpoint protection, threat detection, security analytics, and automated response.