Palo Alto Networks’ (PANW) Hold (C+) Rating Reiterated at Weiss Ratings

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW)‘s stock had its “hold (c+)” rating reissued by stock analysts at Weiss Ratings in a report issued on Saturday,Weiss Ratings reports.

Other research analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $225.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Monday, September 15th. Scotiabank boosted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $228.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 19th. Tigress Financial started coverage on Palo Alto Networks in a report on Friday, September 26th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $245.00 price target on the stock. KeyCorp lowered Palo Alto Networks from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $245.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 17th. Thirty analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $217.22.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 1.0%

NASDAQ:PANW opened at $217.11 on Friday. Palo Alto Networks has a 1 year low of $144.15 and a 1 year high of $218.23. The stock has a market cap of $145.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 135.27, a PEG ratio of 5.16 and a beta of 0.98. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $200.79 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $192.46.

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. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 17.66% and a net margin of 12.30%.The firm had revenue of $2.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.50 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.75 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 15.8% on a year-over-year basis. Palo Alto Networks has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.750-3.850 EPS. Q1 2026 guidance at 0.880-0.900 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $211.92, for a total transaction of $25,594,426.08. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 149,190 shares in the company, valued at approximately $31,616,344.80. This represents a 44.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 846,408 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $204.06, for a total value of $172,718,016.48. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 275,013 shares in the company, valued at $56,119,152.78. The trade was a 75.48% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 1,315,130 shares of company stock valued at $260,687,367 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Palo Alto Networks

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of PANW. Darwin Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the second quarter worth about $25,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 6,400.0% in the second quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 130 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 128 shares during the period. Briaud Financial Planning Inc bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Howard Hughes Medical Institute bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Finally, MTM Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter valued at approximately $31,000. 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.