Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Trading Up 1.9% – Time to Buy?

Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) traded up 1.9% during trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $333.98 and last traded at $331.83. 5,021,161 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 44% from the average daily volume of 8,976,663 shares. The stock had previously closed at $325.68.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on PANW shares. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $325.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 1st. Tigress Financial upped their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $245.00 to $430.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. Mizuho raised their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $265.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Needham & Company LLC boosted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $350.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $330.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty have given a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $331.48.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 1.9%

The firm has a market capitalization of $270.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 271.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 11.66 and a beta of 0.91. The business has a 50 day moving average of $306.57 and a 200 day moving average of $221.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.86.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, June 2nd. The network technology company reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $3 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.94 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 7.95% and a return on equity of 10.53%. The business’s revenue was up 31.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.37 earnings per share. Palo Alto Networks has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.770-3.790 EPS and its Q4 2026 guidance at 0.960-0.980 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.03 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $289.56, for a total transaction of $1,447,800.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 145,250 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $42,058,590. The trade was a 3.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director James J. Goetz sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $279.90, for a total value of $5,598,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 20,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,598,000. This represents a 50.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 101,239 shares of company stock valued at $27,174,360 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 15.0% during the first quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 410,401 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $65,796,000 after acquiring an additional 53,485 shares during the period. Aviva PLC grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 5.4% during the 4th quarter. Aviva PLC now owns 568,804 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $104,774,000 after buying an additional 29,230 shares during the period. B&D White Capital Company LLC acquired a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the first quarter valued at approximately $353,000. Granite Islands Private Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 43.6% in the first quarter. Granite Islands Private Wealth LLC now owns 15,342 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $2,453,000 after buying an additional 4,659 shares during the period. Finally, Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 8.8% during the 4th quarter. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp now owns 48,458 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $8,926,000 after acquiring an additional 3,926 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

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.