Insider Selling: Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) CAO Sells $318,393.00 in Stock

Posted by Francis Steltz on Aug 30th, 2026

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW – Get Free Report) CAO Josh Paul sold 900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $353.77, for a total value of $318,393.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 73,354 shares in the company, valued at $25,950,444.58. This trade represents a 1.21% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 2.9%

NASDAQ:PANW opened at $371.59 on Friday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a twelve month low of $139.57 and a twelve month high of $398.88. The company has a market cap of $302.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 304.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 11.74 and a beta of 0.91. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $344.62 and a 200-day simple moving average of $248.45. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW – Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, June 2nd. The network technology company reported $0.85 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $3 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.94 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 7.95% and a return on equity of 10.53%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 31.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.37 earnings per share. Palo Alto Networks has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.770-3.790 EPS and its Q4 2026 guidance at 0.960-0.980 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.01 EPS for the current year.

Palo Alto Networks News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Palo Alto Networks this week:

Positive Sentiment: Benchmark raised its price target to $400 from $340 and maintained a Buy rating, citing potential upside to next-generation security annual recurring revenue, revenue, operating income and margins. The forecast reinforces expectations that Palo Alto Networks’ AI-security strategy is gaining traction. Palo Alto Networks Gets a $400 Target
Positive Sentiment: Investors are taking confidence from CrowdStrike’s stronger-than-expected results, which highlighted robust AI-related cybersecurity demand and lifted sentiment across the sector. Palo Alto Networks is viewed as a potential beneficiary of the same spending cycle. Palo Alto Networks Stock Trades Up
Positive Sentiment: Platformization, adoption of AI-security products and recent deal wins are expected to support fourth-quarter growth. BTIG also assigned PANW a Buy rating, adding to broadly favorable analyst coverage. Palo Alto Networks to Report Q4 Earnings
Neutral Sentiment: Earnings are the next major catalyst. Traders expect potentially significant movement after the report, while analysts are watching recurring revenue, margins, operating income and guidance—not just revenue and EPS. Expected Post-Earnings Stock Move
Negative Sentiment: Acquisition-related costs could pressure results, and the stock’s triple-digit P/E ratio—above 300 based on the supplied data—means much of the AI-growth outlook may already be reflected in the price. Any shortfall in growth or guidance could trigger profit-taking. Palo Alto’s Rally Has One Big Problem Ahead of Earnings
Negative Sentiment: Chief Accounting Officer Josh D. Paul sold 900 shares for approximately $318,000, reducing his position by 1.21%. The transaction is small relative to his remaining holdings but may create a modest sentiment headwind. Palo Alto Networks Insider Sale

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PANW. California State Teachers Retirement System grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 35,252.4% in the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 417,760,413 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $142,464,656,000 after buying an additional 416,578,710 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the second quarter valued at approximately $25,833,462,000. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,415,364,000. Legal & General Group Plc acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter valued at approximately $1,968,304,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter worth $1,569,755,000. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently weighed in on PANW. HSBC lifted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $114.00 to $207.00 in a research note on Thursday, June 4th. Weiss Ratings downgraded Palo Alto Networks from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Thursday, June 4th. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $275.00 to $355.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Citigroup reiterated a “market outperform” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, August 12th. Finally, New Street Research set a $415.00 price target on Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday, August 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty have given a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $368.42.

View Our Latest Stock Analysis on PANW

About Palo Alto Networks

(Get Free Report)

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ: PANW) is a cybersecurity company founded in 2005 and headquartered in Santa Clara, California. The firm develops a broad suite of security products and services designed to prevent successful cyberattacks and protect enterprise networks, clouds, and endpoints. Built around a platform strategy, its offerings target threat prevention, detection, response and governance across hybrid and multi-cloud environments.

The company’s product portfolio includes next‑generation firewalls as a core on‑premises capability, alongside cloud‑delivered security services and software for securing public and private clouds.