Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Receives “Outperform” Rating from Wedbush

Wedbush reaffirmed their outperform rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) in a research note published on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $225.00 price target on the network technology company’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $221.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $207.00 price objective on Palo Alto Networks and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $230.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Tuesday. Scotiabank lifted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $228.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Twenty-eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $218.86.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

NASDAQ PANW opened at $181.56 on Tuesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $191.31 and its two-hundred day moving average is $186.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $121.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 113.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.33 and a beta of 0.94. Palo Alto Networks has a fifty-two week low of $144.15 and a fifty-two week high of $210.39.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Palo Alto Networks news, Director Aparna Bawa sold 526 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.00, for a total value of $99,940.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 8,632 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,640,080. The trade was a 5.74% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 100,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.80, for a total value of $17,280,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 3,143,516 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $543,199,564.80. This represents a 3.08% 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 worth $126,423,337 over the last 90 days. 2.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter valued at about $12,874,000. Marex Group plc acquired a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter valued at about $395,000. State of Wyoming grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 79.1% in the 2nd quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 641 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $131,000 after acquiring an additional 283 shares in the last quarter. Asset Dedication LLC increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2.0% during the second quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 3,117 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $638,000 after buying an additional 62 shares during the period. Finally, Hohimer Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2.6% during the second quarter. Hohimer Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,334 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,705,000 after buying an additional 210 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.