Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Trading Up 2.5% – Time to Buy?

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)’s stock price rose 2.5% on Friday . The stock traded as high as $170.49 and last traded at $166.95. Approximately 12,049,947 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 19% from the average daily volume of 10,142,253 shares. The stock had previously closed at $162.81.

Key Stories Impacting Palo Alto Networks

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

• Positive Sentiment: Long-term bull case highlighted — several analyst/commentary pieces argue PANW remains a structural growth name in cybersecurity and a smart buy for long-term investors. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Company growth deals and product momentum are cited as offsets to recent analyst cuts, reinforcing the view that near-term analyst noise may not derail multi-year growth. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Q2 preview: Zacks notes PANW is entering Q2 with mid‑teen revenue growth expectations but flags decelerating ARR momentum and a premium valuation — a key focus for the upcoming print. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Market commentary: PANW recently dropped more than the broader market in intraday moves, reflecting short-term volatility ahead of earnings. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Analyst price-target cuts: JPMorgan lowered its PANW target to $225, and other firms (Rosenblatt, BTIG) trimmed targets (Rosenblatt to $225; BTIG to $200), which reduces near-term upside expectations despite some firms maintaining “buy” ratings. Read More. Read More. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Deal and listing risk: reports say PANW plans a dual listing on the Tel‑Aviv Stock Exchange after closing the ~$25B CyberArk acquisition — there’s short‑term investor concern about integration complexity and political/geographic exposure. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Geopolitical/reputational risk: Reuters reports PANW opted not to publicly tie China to a recent global hacking campaign it exposed, citing fears of retaliation — this raises potential client, regulatory and reputation considerations. Read More.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently commented on PANW shares. Mizuho set a $220.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday, December 16th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $220.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 17th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $245.00 price objective (up previously from $228.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, December 18th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, February 4th. Thirty-one research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $223.97.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

The stock has a market cap of $116.36 billion, a PE ratio of 105.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.94 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a 50 day moving average of $182.90 and a two-hundred day moving average of $192.53.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.89 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $2.47 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.46 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 17.05% and a net margin of 11.69%.Palo Alto Networks’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.56 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, Director James J. Goetz sold 12,500 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $195.33, for a total value of $2,441,625.00. Following the sale, the director owned 75,184 shares in the company, valued at $14,685,690.72. This trade represents a 14.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $188.18, for a total transaction of $940,900.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 155,119 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,190,293.42. This represents a 3.12% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 260,542 shares of company stock worth $49,910,995 over the last 90 days. 1.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 4.1% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 67,929,063 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $12,512,533,000 after purchasing an additional 2,659,100 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 30,331,705 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $5,587,100,000 after purchasing an additional 594,789 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,989,257 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $2,934,935,000 after purchasing an additional 540,756 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the fourth quarter worth $1,415,364,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 0.5% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,528,248 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,532,902,000 after buying an additional 36,511 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.