Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Shares Climb 2.2% – What’s Next?

Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) traded up 2.2% on Thursday. The stock traded as high as $366.23 and last traded at $354.92. 7,177,207 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 12% from the average daily volume of 8,132,011 shares. The stock had previously closed at $347.25.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Loop Capital raised their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $290.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, August 21st. BTIG Research lifted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $404.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 28th. HSBC lowered their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $201.00 to $190.00 in a report on Thursday, September 3rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “buy” rating and set a $430.00 price target (up from $350.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Finally, Benchmark raised their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $340.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 24th. Thirty-nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $398.55.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 7.2%

The firm has a market cap of $311.29 billion, a PE ratio of 746.19, a PEG ratio of 10.21 and a beta of 0.93. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $369.33 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $307.79. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06.

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

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 27,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $391.60, for a total value of $10,769,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 117,750 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $46,110,900. This represents a 18.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director James Goetz sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $376.68, for a total transaction of $7,533,600.00. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 54,210 shares of company stock valued at $20,823,029 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in PANW. Purewater Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 3rd quarter worth $214,000. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 9.3% during the 3rd quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 10,086 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $4,007,000 after acquiring an additional 862 shares during the period. Sigma Planning Corp grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 11.3% during the 3rd quarter. Sigma Planning Corp now owns 18,952 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $7,428,000 after acquiring an additional 1,922 shares during the period. Centerpoint Advisory Group bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 3rd quarter valued at $219,000. Finally, Randolph Co Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 3rd quarter worth $78,312,000. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

About Palo Alto Networks

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.