Wedbush Reiterates Outperform Rating for Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW)

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating reaffirmed by stock analysts at Wedbush in a note issued to investors on Friday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $400.00 price objective on the network technology company’s stock. Wedbush’s target price indicates a potential upside of 18.17% from the company’s previous close.

Other analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Scotiabank downgraded Palo Alto Networks from a “sector outperform” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Roth Capital restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $300.00 target price (up from $210.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Capital One Financial lifted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $421.00 to $428.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 2nd. Mizuho set a $415.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 19th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $450.00 price target (up from $335.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Friday, August 28th. Thirty-nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $387.60.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

NASDAQ PANW opened at $338.49 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $349.60 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $260.57. Palo Alto Networks has a 12-month low of $139.57 and a 12-month high of $398.88. The firm has a market cap of $275.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 663.72, a PEG ratio of 9.76 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, September 1st. The network technology company reported $1.02 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.98 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $3.41 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.35 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 8.50% and a net margin of 2.67%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 34.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.95 earnings per share. Palo Alto Networks has set its FY 2027 guidance at 4.160-4.190 EPS and its Q1 2027 guidance at 0.960-0.980 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks will post 2.28 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Palo Alto Networks news, Director Helle Thorning-Schmidt sold 700 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $346.85, for a total transaction of $242,795.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 5,898 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,045,721.30. The trade was a 10.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Aparna Bawa sold 290 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $348.74, for a total transaction of $101,134.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 6,437 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,244,839.38. This represents a 4.31% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 9,667 shares of company stock valued at $3,058,443. 1.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Palo Alto Networks

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Darwin Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the second quarter valued at $25,000. Solstein Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the second quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Sittner & Nelson LLC increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 73.8% in the fourth quarter. Sittner & Nelson LLC now owns 146 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares during the period. N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter worth about $27,000. Finally, WHI TRUST Co LLC bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Palo Alto Networks Company Profile

Palo Alto Networks, Inc is a cybersecurity company that provides security products and services to businesses, governments and other organizations worldwide. The company helps customers protect networks, cloud environments, endpoints, applications and connected devices from cyber threats.

Its portfolio includes next-generation firewalls and network security technologies, as well as cloud-delivered security solutions such as Prisma Access and Prisma Cloud. Palo Alto Networks also offers Cortex products for endpoint protection, security operations, threat detection and response, and automation.