Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Upgraded to “Buy” at Bank of America

Bank of America upgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) from a neutral rating to a buy rating in a research note released on Tuesday, MarketBeat.com reports. They currently have $215.00 target price on the network technology company’s stock.

PANW has been the subject of a number of other research reports. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $217.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday. TD Securities restated a “buy” rating and set a $230.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Stephens lowered Palo Alto Networks from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $223.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Friday, August 15th. Twenty-eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $218.86.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 3.1%

Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $181.56 on Tuesday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $191.31 and a two-hundred day moving average of $186.32. The firm has a market cap of $121.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 113.12, a P/E/G ratio of 4.33 and a beta of 0.94. Palo Alto Networks has a twelve month low of $144.15 and a twelve month high of $210.39.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its earnings results 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 during 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%.Palo Alto Networks’s revenue was up 15.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $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. Equities analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.80, for a total value of $17,280,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 3,143,516 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $543,199,564.80. This represents a 3.08% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $201.05, for a total value of $160,840.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 42,033 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,450,734.65. The trade was a 1.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 669,248 shares of company stock worth $126,423,337 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. St. Clair Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. St. Clair Advisors LLC now owns 15,800 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $3,233,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the period. Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC. grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 2.1% during the 2nd quarter. Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC. now owns 2,467 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $496,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the period. Csenge Advisory Group grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 2.4% during the 1st quarter. Csenge Advisory Group now owns 2,271 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $381,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares during the period. TFG Advisers LLC grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. TFG Advisers LLC now owns 4,668 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $955,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares during the period. Finally, GSG Advisors LLC grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. GSG Advisors LLC now owns 12,450 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $2,154,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Palo Alto Networks

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.