Palo Alto Networks’ (PANW) “Buy” Rating Reaffirmed at DA Davidson

DA Davidson reissued their buy rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) in a report issued on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $215.00 price target on the network technology company’s stock.

PANW has been the topic of several other research reports. Guggenheim upped their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Northland Securities reduced their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $210.00 to $177.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $230.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday. Roth Capital started coverage on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $210.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $215.00 price target (up previously from $210.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday. Twenty-eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $218.86.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of PANW opened at $181.56 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization 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 company’s 50 day simple moving average is $191.31 and its 200 day simple moving average is $186.32. Palo Alto Networks has a 1 year low of $144.15 and a 1 year high of $210.39.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 18th. The network technology company reported $0.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $2.54 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.50 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 12.30% and a return on equity of 18.55%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 15.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm 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. Equities analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks will post 1.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 600 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $204.00, for a total value of $122,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 41,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,452,332. This represents a 1.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the 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. The trade was a 36.88% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 669,248 shares of company stock valued at $126,423,337. 2.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Darwin Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter valued at about $25,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC boosted its position 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 valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 128 shares during the last quarter. Transce3nd LLC purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Briaud Financial Planning Inc purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter valued at about $28,000. Finally, Howard Hughes Medical Institute purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter valued at about $29,000. 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.