Mizuho Issues Positive Forecast for Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Stock Price

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) had its price target raised by Mizuho from $210.00 to $220.00 in a research note released on Friday morning,MarketScreener reports. They currently have an outperform rating on the network technology company’s stock.

A number of other analysts have also weighed in on PANW. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $225.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Monday, September 15th. Rosenblatt Securities cut their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $235.00 to $215.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 14th. Bank of America raised shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $215.00 price target for the company in a report on Tuesday, August 19th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $210.00 to $216.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 2nd. Finally, Guggenheim increased their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 19th. Thirty research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $216.60.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of PANW opened at $207.89 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $196.80 and a 200-day moving average of $190.29. The company has a market cap of $139.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 129.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.89 and a beta of 0.98. Palo Alto Networks has a 1 year low of $144.15 and a 1 year high of $217.94.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its earnings results on Monday, August 18th. The network technology company reported $0.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.89 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $2.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.50 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 12.30% and a return on equity of 17.66%. Palo Alto Networks’s revenue was up 15.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.75 EPS. Palo Alto Networks has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.750-3.850 EPS. Q1 2026 guidance at 0.880-0.900 EPS. Analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $204.19, for a total value of $1,020,950.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 96,135 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,629,805.65. This represents a 4.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 846,408 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $204.06, for a total transaction of $172,718,016.48. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 275,013 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $56,119,152.78. This trade represents a 75.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 1,315,130 shares of company stock valued at $260,687,367. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PANW. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the first quarter worth $810,047,000. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter worth about $675,865,000. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter worth about $633,068,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 41.9% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 7,235,406 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,234,650,000 after purchasing an additional 2,134,735 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 77.1% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 3,879,506 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $662,000,000 after purchasing an additional 1,688,432 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

About Palo Alto Networks

Palo Alto Networks, Inc provides cybersecurity solutions worldwide. The company offers firewall appliances and software; and Panorama, a security management solution for the global control of network security platform as a virtual or a physical appliance. It also provides subscription services covering the areas of threat prevention, malware and persistent threat, URL filtering, laptop and mobile device protection, DNS security, Internet of Things security, SaaS security API, and SaaS security inline, as well as threat intelligence, and data loss prevention.