Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Receives Equal Weight Rating from Stephens

Stephens reaffirmed their equal weight rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) in a research note released on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $205.00 price target on the network technology company’s stock.

PANW has been the subject of several other research reports. Bank of America raised Palo Alto Networks from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $215.00 price target for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $215.00 price target (up previously from $210.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday. Northland Securities cut their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $210.00 to $177.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $212.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $230.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday. Twenty-eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $218.86.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

NASDAQ:PANW opened at $181.56 on Tuesday. Palo Alto Networks has a 1 year low of $144.15 and a 1 year high of $210.39. The stock has a market cap of $121.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 113.12, a PEG ratio of 4.33 and a beta of 0.94. The business has a fifty day moving average of $191.31 and a 200-day moving average of $186.32.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 18th. The network technology company reported $0.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.06. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 18.55% and a net margin of 12.30%.The company had revenue of $2.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.50 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.75 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Palo Alto Networks has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.750-3.850 EPS. Q1 2026 guidance at 0.880-0.900 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.58, for a total transaction of $20,722,402.92. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 206,718 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $35,468,674.44. This represents a 36.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Aparna Bawa sold 526 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.00, for a total value of $99,940.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 8,632 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,640,080. This represents a 5.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 669,248 shares of company stock valued at $126,423,337 over the last 90 days. 2.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of PANW. Transce3nd LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Darwin Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter worth about $25,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 6,400.0% in the 2nd quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 130 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 128 shares in the last quarter. Briaud Financial Planning Inc purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter worth about $28,000. Finally, Capital A Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the 4th quarter worth about $29,000. 79.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.