Northland Securities Raises Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Price Target to $190.00

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) had its price objective raised by equities research analysts at Northland Securities from $177.00 to $190.00 in a report released on Thursday,MarketScreener reports. The firm presently has a “market perform” rating on the network technology company’s stock. Northland Securities’ price target indicates a potential downside of 2.72% from the company’s previous close.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. JMP Securities raised their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $212.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 27th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $215.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 20th. Tigress Financial started coverage on Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Friday, September 26th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $245.00 target price on the stock. BTIG Research reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $248.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Monday. Finally, Guggenheim upped their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 19th. Twenty-nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $224.93.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

NASDAQ PANW traded down $4.59 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $195.31. 3,693,638 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,122,471. The stock has a market capitalization of $133.59 billion, a PE ratio of 121.42, a PEG ratio of 4.78 and a beta of 0.95. Palo Alto Networks has a 1-year low of $144.15 and a 1-year high of $223.61. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $209.31 and its 200 day simple moving average is $197.43.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 19th. The network technology company reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $2.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.46 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 17.66% and a net margin of 12.30%.The business’s revenue was up 15.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.56 earnings per share. Palo Alto Networks has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.800-3.900 EPS. Q2 2026 guidance at 0.930-0.950 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $219.97, for a total transaction of $153,979.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 47,505 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,449,674.85. The trade was a 1.45% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 846,408 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $204.06, for a total transaction of $172,718,016.48. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 275,013 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $56,119,152.78. This trade represents a 75.48% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 1,215,130 shares of company stock valued at $249,031,488. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Palo Alto Networks

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 65,269,963 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $13,290,270,000 after purchasing an additional 1,253,589 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 1.7% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 29,736,916 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $6,055,031,000 after acquiring an additional 505,924 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,174,029 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $3,093,262,000 after acquiring an additional 169,055 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,528,248 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,532,902,000 after acquiring an additional 36,511 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 41.9% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 7,235,406 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,234,650,000 after acquiring an additional 2,134,735 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.