DA Davidson Has Optimistic Outlook of PANW FY2026 Earnings

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) – Investment analysts at DA Davidson lifted their FY2026 earnings per share estimates for Palo Alto Networks in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday, May 21st. DA Davidson analyst R. Kessinger now forecasts that the network technology company will post earnings of $2.11 per share for the year, up from their previous forecast of $2.10. The consensus estimate for Palo Alto Networks’ current full-year earnings is $1.76 per share.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on PANW. Guggenheim reissued a “sell” rating and set a $130.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Westpark Capital reissued a “hold” rating and set a $196.40 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $230.00 to $205.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, Roth Capital began coverage on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, May 15th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $210.00 price target on the stock. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $206.40.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 0.3%

PANW opened at $186.75 on Friday. Palo Alto Networks has a 12 month low of $142.01 and a 12 month high of $208.39. The company has a market cap of $123.65 billion, a PE ratio of 105.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a 50 day moving average of $178.11 and a 200 day moving average of $185.36.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $2.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.28 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 21.93% and a net margin of 14.64%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.66 EPS.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Grassi Investment Management boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 161.1% in the fourth quarter. Grassi Investment Management now owns 7,910 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,439,000 after acquiring an additional 4,880 shares in the last quarter. Pure Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 4th quarter worth about $214,000. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 83.5% during the 4th quarter. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH now owns 4,458 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $811,000 after purchasing an additional 2,029 shares in the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 92.5% during the fourth quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 127,483 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $23,197,000 after buying an additional 61,266 shares during the period. Finally, XML Financial LLC increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 129.4% during the fourth quarter. XML Financial LLC now owns 1,562 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $284,000 after buying an additional 881 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 227,414 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.73, for a total value of $39,281,220.22. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 317,571 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $54,854,038.83. This trade represents a 41.73% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.41, for a total transaction of $16,541,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,543,516 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $586,132,981.56. This trade represents a 2.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 568,962 shares of company stock worth $96,933,690 in the last ninety days. 2.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Company Profile

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.