Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Receives “Overweight” Rating from Cantor Fitzgerald

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW)‘s stock had its “overweight” rating reissued by investment analysts at Cantor Fitzgerald in a report issued on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $425.00 price target on the network technology company’s stock. Cantor Fitzgerald’s price objective indicates a potential upside of 17.37% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other brokerages also recently commented on PANW. Truist Financial set a $435.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 19th. Benchmark increased their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $340.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 24th. FBN Securities reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, July 1st. Susquehanna reissued a “positive” rating and issued a $350.00 price target (up from $200.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Finally, Argus set a $425.00 price objective on Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday, July 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have given a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $372.73.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 5.2%

Shares of Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $362.09 on Wednesday. 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 has a 1 year low of $139.57 and a 1 year high of $398.88. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $347.96 and its two-hundred day moving average is $251.94. The stock has a market cap of $295.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 296.80, a PEG ratio of 12.08 and a beta of 0.91.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, September 1st. The network technology company reported $1.02 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.98 by $0.04. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 7.95% and a return on equity of 10.53%. The business had revenue of $3.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.35 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.95 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 34.5% compared to the same quarter last year. 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. As a group, research analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks will post 2.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $289.56, for a total value of $1,447,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 145,250 shares in the company, valued at $42,058,590. This trade represents a 3.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director James J. Goetz sold 20,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Friday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $279.90, for a total transaction of $5,598,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 20,000 shares in the company, valued at $5,598,000. This represents a 50.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 37,735 shares of company stock valued at $10,814,266 over the last quarter. Insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PANW. Brighton Jones LLC raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 147.7% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,761 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,230,000 after purchasing an additional 4,031 shares during the last quarter. Bison Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 169.1% in the fourth quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 5,212 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $948,000 after purchasing an additional 3,275 shares during the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 66.3% during the 2nd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 3,484 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $713,000 after purchasing an additional 1,389 shares during the period. Osterweis Capital Management Inc. grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 11,100.0% during the 2nd quarter. Osterweis Capital Management Inc. now owns 560 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $115,000 after purchasing an additional 555 shares during the period. Finally, Main Street Financial Solutions LLC raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 6.0% during the 2nd quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC now owns 4,398 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $900,000 after buying an additional 249 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

More Palo Alto Networks News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Quarterly results exceeded expectations. Revenue rose 34.5% year over year to $3.41 billion, ahead of the $3.35 billion consensus estimate, while adjusted earnings of $1.02 per share topped expectations of $0.98 and increased from $0.95 a year earlier. Palo Alto Networks beats quarterly earnings estimates, acquires AI platform Console
• Positive Sentiment: Management issued above-consensus guidance. Fiscal 2027 revenue is projected at $14.1 billion to $14.2 billion, representing approximately 23%–24% growth and exceeding the $13.8 billion analyst estimate. First-quarter revenue guidance of about $3.3 billion also came in above expectations. Palo Alto Projects Double-Digit Growth as AI Drives Cybersecurity Spending
• Positive Sentiment: AI is supporting long-term demand. CEO Nikesh Arora said roughly $1 trillion of aging cybersecurity infrastructure is not ready for AI-driven attacks, potentially extending the company’s growth runway. Palo Alto also acquired Console, an AI-native platform intended to strengthen agentic security workflows. Palo Alto CEO says $1 trillion of cybersecurity infrastructure isn’t ready for AI
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst sentiment improved. Scotiabank raised its price target to $430 from $320 and assigned a “sector outperform” rating, implying meaningful upside based on the cited reference price. Scotiabank Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Palo Alto Networks 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.