Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Receives Buy Rating from Needham & Company LLC

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reissued by equities researchers at Needham & Company LLC in a report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $230.00 target price on the network technology company’s stock. Needham & Company LLC’s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 15.06% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other research firms also recently issued reports on PANW. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 14th. TD Cowen lifted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $230.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 13th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $215.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 10th. Oppenheimer raised their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 17th. Finally, New Street Research boosted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $235.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 12th. Twenty-nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $224.22.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of PANW opened at $199.90 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $136.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 124.55, a PEG ratio of 4.78 and a beta of 0.95. Palo Alto Networks has a one year low of $144.15 and a one year high of $223.61. The business has a fifty day moving average of $209.31 and a 200 day moving average of $197.43.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its earnings results 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 for the quarter was up 15.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $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. Analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks will post 1.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $191.11, for a total value of $23,081,119.14. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 177,954 shares in the company, valued at approximately $34,008,788.94. This represents a 40.43% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $204.19, for a total value of $1,020,950.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 96,135 shares in the company, valued at $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. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 1,215,130 shares of company stock worth $249,031,488. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Brighton Jones LLC boosted 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 acquiring an additional 4,031 shares during the last quarter. Bison Wealth LLC increased its holdings 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 last quarter. PFG Advisors lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 3.4% in the 1st quarter. PFG Advisors now owns 5,604 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $956,000 after purchasing an additional 183 shares in the last quarter. Advisors Preferred LLC bought a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 1st quarter valued at about $548,000. Finally, Wakefield Asset Management LLLP purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the first quarter valued at about $248,000. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Palo Alto Networks Company Profile

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.