Royal Bank Of Canada Reiterates Outperform Rating for Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW)

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating reiterated by research analysts at Royal Bank Of Canada in a report released on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $220.00 price objective on the network technology company’s stock. Royal Bank Of Canada’s target price indicates a potential upside of 43.72% from the stock’s current price.

PANW has been the subject of a number of other reports. Stephens upped their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. Truist Financial set a $200.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Guggenheim restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday. Robert W. Baird set a $220.00 target price on Palo Alto Networks and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, BTIG Research reissued a “buy” rating and set a $200.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday. Thirty-three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $215.68.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

PANW stock traded down $10.42 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $153.08. The stock had a trading volume of 14,522,564 shares, compared to its average volume of 10,449,373. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $181.06 and its 200 day moving average price is $192.21. The firm has a market cap of $106.69 billion, a PE ratio of 96.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.99 and a beta of 0.75. Palo Alto Networks has a 12-month low of $144.15 and a 12-month high of $223.61.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 17th. The network technology company reported $1.03 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.94 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $2.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.58 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 17.05% and a net margin of 11.69%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 14.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.81 earnings per share. Palo Alto Networks has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.650-3.700 EPS and its Q3 2026 guidance at 0.780-0.800 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Palo Alto Networks news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.81, for a total value of $147,848.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 46,005 shares in the company, valued at $8,502,184.05. This represents a 1.71% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director James J. Goetz sold 12,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $195.33, for a total transaction of $2,441,625.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 75,184 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,685,690.72. The trade was a 14.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 260,542 shares of company stock valued at $49,910,995. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,415,364,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 4.1% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 67,929,063 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $12,512,533,000 after acquiring an additional 2,659,100 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 11.9% during the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 19,375,486 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $3,568,964,000 after acquiring an additional 2,065,776 shares in the last quarter. ABN AMRO Bank N.V. acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $340,883,000. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 108.3% during the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,467,692 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $502,263,000 after purchasing an additional 1,282,738 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Key Palo Alto Networks News

Here are the key news stories impacting Palo Alto Networks this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q2 beat and ARR growth: Palo Alto reported better‑than‑expected Q2 results (EPS and revenue) and Next‑Generation Security ARR grew ~33% year‑over‑year — evidence of platform demand. PR Newswire: Q2 Results
• Positive Sentiment: Some analysts still bullish: Several firms reaffirmed Buy/Outperform ratings with high price targets (e.g., Citizens JMP $250, Wedbush/Rosenblatt $225), signaling continued long‑term support from parts of the sell‑side. Benzinga: Analyst Reactions
• Neutral Sentiment: Product and research updates: Palo Alto launched MSIAM 2.0 and released its Unit 42 AI security report — moves that reinforce its product roadmap around AI security but won’t offset near‑term cost concerns. PR Newswire: MSIAM 2.0
• Neutral Sentiment: Acquisition activity: Management announced intent to buy Koi (agentic endpoint) to bolster AI‑era endpoint coverage — strategic for product positioning but adds integration work/costs. PR Newswire: Koi Acquisition
• Negative Sentiment: Profit/guidance disappointment and integration costs: Management trimmed or lowered near‑term profit expectations and cited higher integration costs from recent deals (including large acquisitions), which led to the initial selloff. Reuters: Deal Costs & Share Reaction
• Negative Sentiment: Widespread price‑target cuts: Multiple brokers cut their targets (Deutsche Bank to $220, Goldman to $224, Scotiabank, Needham, BMO, Mizuho, Loop Capital, Stifel and others lowered PTs), signaling reduced near‑term upside in analyst models tied to margin risk. MarketScreener: PT Changes

About Palo Alto Networks

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ: PANW) is a cybersecurity company founded in 2005 and headquartered in Santa Clara, California. The firm develops a broad suite of security products and services designed to prevent successful cyberattacks and protect enterprise networks, clouds, and endpoints. Built around a platform strategy, its offerings target threat prevention, detection, response and governance across hybrid and multi-cloud environments.

The company’s product portfolio includes next‑generation firewalls as a core on‑premises capability, alongside cloud‑delivered security services and software for securing public and private clouds.