Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Stock Price Up 4.6% After Analyst Upgrade

Posted by Brian Himes on Sep 28th, 2026

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW – Get Free Report) shares traded up 4.6% during trading on Monday after BTIG Research raised their price target on the stock from $404.00 to $425.00. BTIG Research currently has a buy rating on the stock. Palo Alto Networks traded as high as $394.50 and last traded at $392.09. Approximately 5,987,285 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 29% from the average daily volume of 8,405,605 shares. The stock had previously closed at $374.74.

A number of other brokerages have also issued reports on PANW. Truist Financial set a $400.00 target price on Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Guggenheim reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $434.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $253.00 to $351.00 in a report on Thursday, September 17th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $415.00 price objective (up from $335.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, August 20th. Thirty-eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $390.47.

Read Our Latest Analysis on PANW

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, Director Helle Thorning-Schmidt sold 700 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $346.85, for a total value of $242,795.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 5,898 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,045,721.30. This represents a 10.61% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Aparna Bawa sold 1,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Monday, September 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $373.61, for a total transaction of $373,610.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 5,437 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,031,317.57. This trade represents a 15.54% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 27,690 shares of company stock worth $10,345,010 in the last quarter. 1.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Palo Alto Networks

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. QRG Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 20.9% in the 2nd quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 103,822 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $35,405,000 after acquiring an additional 17,982 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 4.2% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 36,979,497 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $12,610,748,000 after purchasing an additional 1,493,179 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Altus USA Inc. grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 17.8% in the second quarter. Wellington Altus USA Inc. now owns 993 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $339,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares in the last quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 90.1% in the second quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 325 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $111,000 after purchasing an additional 154 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Reynders McVeigh Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter valued at approximately $382,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

The stock has a market cap of $320.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 768.82, a PEG ratio of 10.79 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.87. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $356.02 and a 200 day moving average of $277.55.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW – Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, September 1st. The network technology company reported $1.02 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $3.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.35 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.95 earnings per share. The firm’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. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.31 EPS for the current year.

Palo Alto Networks Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

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.