Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) CAO Sells $141,512.00 in Stock

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) CAO Josh Paul sold 700 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.16, for a total transaction of $141,512.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 32,474 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,564,943.84. The trade was a 2.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

PANW stock opened at $207.19 on Friday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a one year low of $144.15 and a one year high of $212.10. The firm has a market cap of $138.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 129.09, a PEG ratio of 4.98 and a beta of 0.98. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $190.20 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $188.20.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 18th. The network technology company reported $0.95 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.06. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 12.30% and a return on equity of 17.66%. The firm had revenue of $2.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.50 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.75 EPS. Palo Alto Networks’s revenue was up 15.8% on a year-over-year basis. Palo Alto Networks has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.750-3.850 EPS. Q1 2026 guidance at 0.880-0.900 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PANW has been the topic of several analyst reports. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $232.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday, August 19th. Rosenblatt Securities decreased their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $235.00 to $215.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 14th. UBS Group set a $245.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Friday, September 26th. Scotiabank increased their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $228.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 19th. Finally, KeyCorp lowered shares of Palo Alto Networks from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Thirty analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $214.64.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in PANW. Brighton Jones LLC grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 147.7% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,761 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,230,000 after purchasing an additional 4,031 shares during the period. Bison Wealth LLC grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 169.1% in the 4th quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 5,212 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $948,000 after acquiring an additional 3,275 shares during the period. Merit Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 29.6% in the 1st quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 34,974 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $5,968,000 after purchasing an additional 7,978 shares in the last quarter. Fulton Bank N.A. lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 2.4% in the 1st quarter. Fulton Bank N.A. now owns 9,176 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,566,000 after purchasing an additional 219 shares in the last quarter. Finally, RFG Advisory LLC lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 4.9% in the 1st quarter. RFG Advisory LLC now owns 18,004 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $3,072,000 after purchasing an additional 833 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

About Palo Alto Networks

Palo Alto Networks, Inc provides cybersecurity solutions worldwide. The company offers firewall appliances and software; and Panorama, a security management solution for the global control of network security platform as a virtual or a physical appliance. It also provides subscription services covering the areas of threat prevention, malware and persistent threat, URL filtering, laptop and mobile device protection, DNS security, Internet of Things security, SaaS security API, and SaaS security inline, as well as threat intelligence, and data loss prevention.