Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Shares Up 2.3% – Here’s Why

Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) were up 2.3% during trading on Wednesday. The company traded as high as $404.69 and last traded at $397.31. 6,029,444 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 28% from the average daily volume of 8,381,996 shares. The stock had previously closed at $388.41.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have commented on PANW. Morgan Stanley set a $410.00 target price on Palo Alto Networks and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 21st. Guggenheim reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, September 2nd. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $425.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday, September 8th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $415.00 price target on Palo Alto Networks and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 19th. Finally, New Street Research set a $415.00 price objective on Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Tuesday, August 18th. Thirty-eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $391.32.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $324.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 776.98, a P/E/G ratio of 11.44 and a beta of 0.93. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $360.46 and its 200-day simple moving average is $283.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.87.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98 by $0.04. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 8.50% and a net margin of 2.67%.The business had revenue of $3.41 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.35 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.95 earnings per share. Palo Alto Networks’s revenue for the quarter 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. Research analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Palo Alto Networks news, Director Aparna Bawa sold 1,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $373.61, for a total transaction of $373,610.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 5,437 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,031,317.57. The trade was a 15.54% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director John Key sold 2,500 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $376.03, for a total transaction of $940,075.00. Following the sale, the director owned 10,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,760,300. The trade was a 20.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 54,260 shares of company stock valued at $20,804,474. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 15.0% in 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 purchasing an additional 53,485 shares in the last quarter. Aviva PLC raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 5.4% during the fourth quarter. Aviva PLC now owns 568,804 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $104,774,000 after purchasing an additional 29,230 shares in the last quarter. B&D White Capital Company LLC acquired a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the first quarter worth $353,000. Bridgewater Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the second quarter worth about $2,159,000. Finally, Granite Islands Private Wealth LLC increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 43.6% in the 1st quarter. Granite Islands Private Wealth LLC now owns 15,342 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $2,453,000 after purchasing an additional 4,659 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Company Profile

Palo Alto Networks, Inc is a cybersecurity company that provides solutions designed to help organizations protect networks, endpoints, cloud environments, applications and users from cyber threats. Its offerings include next-generation firewalls, cloud-delivered security services, secure access service edge (SASE) solutions, endpoint protection and security operations tools.

The company also provides platforms and services for cloud security, threat intelligence, incident response, vulnerability management and the automation of security operations.