Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW – Get Free Report) shares gapped down prior to trading on Thursday. The stock had previously closed at $394.49, but opened at $368.83. Palo Alto Networks shares last traded at $373.2590, with a volume of 2,493,029 shares.
Analyst Ratings Changes
Several equities analysts have weighed in on PANW shares. Loop Capital lifted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $290.00 to $350.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, August 21st. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $410.00 price objective (up from $345.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, September 2nd. Stephens set a $400.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 2nd. Rosenblatt Securities upped their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $355.00 to $415.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Finally, Guggenheim reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Thirty-nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $398.55.
Get Our Latest Research Report on Palo Alto Networks
Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 3.9%
The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $372.15 and its two-hundred day moving average is $269.89. The firm has a market cap of $299.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 717.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 10.92 and a beta of 0.93.
Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW – Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, September 1st. The network technology company reported $1.02 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.98 by $0.04. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 2.67% and a return on equity of 8.50%. The company had revenue of $3.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.35 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.95 earnings per share. The business’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 anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks
In related news, Director Aparna Bawa sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $373.61, for a total transaction of $373,610.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 5,437 shares in the company, valued at $2,031,317.57. The trade was a 15.54% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director John P. Key sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $376.03, for a total transaction of $940,075.00. Following the sale, the director directly 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. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 54,210 shares of company stock worth $20,823,029. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.
Institutional Investors Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks
Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter worth about $25,833,462,000. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 4.2% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 36,979,497 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $12,610,748,000 after buying an additional 1,493,179 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 0.9% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 22,681,876 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $7,734,973,000 after acquiring an additional 205,123 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 8.7% during the 2nd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 8,778,963 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $2,993,802,000 after purchasing an additional 706,003 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the second quarter worth approximately $1,968,304,000. 79.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
Palo Alto Networks Company Profile
Palo Alto Networks, Inc (NASDAQ:PANW) is a global cybersecurity company that helps organizations protect networks, cloud environments, endpoints, and digital infrastructure. Its offerings are designed to prevent cyberattacks, identify security risks, monitor activity, and support incident response across enterprise, government, and service-provider environments.
The company’s portfolio includes network security products such as next-generation firewalls and security operations tools; Prisma, its cloud security platform; and Cortex, a suite focused on endpoint protection, threat detection, security analytics, and automated response.
Read More
- Five stocks we like better than Palo Alto Networks
- Can Microsoft Turn a Leaner Workforce and Record AI Spending Into Bigger Profits?
- Why JFrog Could Be the Software Infrastructure Company to Beat in the AI Boom
- The Factories Behind AI Servers Just Raised Their Outlooks—3 Contract Manufacturers to Watch
- MarketBeat Week in Review – 10/26 – 10/30
Receive News & Ratings for Palo Alto Networks Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Palo Alto Networks and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter.
