Barclays Issues Positive Forecast for Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Stock Price

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) had its target price raised by equities researchers at Barclays from $215.00 to $230.00 in a research note issued on Monday,MarketScreener reports. Barclays‘s price target indicates a potential upside of 7.05% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other brokerages also recently weighed in on PANW. New Street Research increased their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $235.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 12th. DA Davidson reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $215.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday, August 19th. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $207.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 19th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $235.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday, July 29th. Finally, Mizuho raised their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 17th. Thirty research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $218.55.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 1.2%

NASDAQ PANW opened at $214.84 on Monday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $207.16 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $196.19. Palo Alto Networks has a 12-month low of $144.15 and a 12-month high of $223.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $143.71 billion, a PE ratio of 133.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.05 and a beta of 0.95.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 18th. The network technology company reported $0.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 business 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 earned $0.75 EPS. Palo Alto Networks’s quarterly revenue was up 15.8% compared to the same quarter last year. 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 anticipate that Palo Alto Networks will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $217.94, for a total transaction of $26,321,485.56. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 356,409 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $77,675,777.46. This trade represents a 25.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $204.19, for a total transaction of $1,020,950.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 96,135 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,629,805.65. The trade was a 4.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 1,215,830 shares of company stock valued at $249,160,428 over the last ninety days. 2.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in PANW. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 147.7% during the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Bison Wealth LLC boosted its position 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 buying an additional 3,275 shares during the last quarter. Schechter Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 22.3% in the 1st quarter. Schechter Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,159 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $368,000 after buying an additional 393 shares during the period. CWM LLC raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 40.8% during the first quarter. CWM LLC now owns 59,910 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $10,223,000 after acquiring an additional 17,347 shares during the last quarter. Finally, LRI Investments LLC boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 65.7% in the first quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 3,894 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $664,000 after acquiring an additional 1,544 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.