Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Stock Price Up 2.3% on Analyst Upgrade

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) shares shot up 2.3% on Thursday after Citizens Jmp raised their price target on the stock from $320.00 to $415.00. Citizens Jmp currently has a market outperform rating on the stock. Palo Alto Networks traded as high as $398.88 and last traded at $396.00. Approximately 4,586,447 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 48% from the average session volume of 8,808,755 shares. The stock had previously closed at $387.01.

Other research analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Tigress Financial raised their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $245.00 to $430.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $345.00 price objective (up from $265.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Wedbush boosted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $300.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Evercore restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $415.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald set a $340.00 target price on Palo Alto Networks and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty have issued a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $337.35.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $289.56, for a total value of $1,447,800.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 145,250 shares in the company, valued at $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 is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 62,904 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $258.65, for a total value of $16,270,119.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 235,983 shares in the company, valued at approximately $61,037,002.95. This trade represents a 21.05% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 101,239 shares of company stock valued at $27,174,360 in the last ninety days. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of PANW. Trilogy Capital Inc. grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.8% during the second quarter. Trilogy Capital Inc. now owns 2,127 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $725,000 after buying an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. Wisconsin Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 1.2% during the 2nd quarter. Wisconsin Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,206 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,093,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares during the period. Orrstown Financial Services Inc. grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter. Orrstown Financial Services Inc. now owns 3,197 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,090,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. GSG Advisors LLC grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. GSG Advisors LLC now owns 12,536 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $2,010,000 after acquiring an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. Finally, PGIM Custom Harvest LLC increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 1.4% in the third quarter. PGIM Custom Harvest LLC now owns 3,859 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $786,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $322.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 324.59, a P/E/G ratio of 12.88 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.86. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $323.44 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $232.77.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, June 2nd. The network technology company reported $0.85 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79 by $0.06. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 7.95% and a return on equity of 10.53%. The firm had revenue of $3 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.94 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.37 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 31.1% on a year-over-year basis. 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, analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Palo Alto Networks Company Profile

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.