Palo Alto Networks’ (PANW) “Hold” Rating Reaffirmed at Westpark Capital

Westpark Capital reissued their hold rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) in a report published on Tuesday,Benzinga reports.

Several other analysts also recently issued reports on the company. KeyCorp downgraded Palo Alto Networks from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Roth Capital initiated coverage on Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $210.00 price target for the company. UBS Group set a $185.00 price target on Palo Alto Networks and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 12th. Stephens downgraded Palo Alto Networks from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $217.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Twenty-eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $218.86.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

PANW opened at $181.56 on Tuesday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $191.31 and a 200 day simple moving average of $186.32. The company has a market capitalization of $121.06 billion, a PE ratio of 113.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.33 and a beta of 0.94. 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 released its quarterly earnings results 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 quarterly revenue was up 15.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.75 EPS. 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 anticipate that Palo Alto Networks will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $201.85, for a total transaction of $1,009,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 101,135 shares in the company, valued at $20,414,099.75. This represents a 4.71% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, 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 sale, the executive vice president 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 669,248 shares of company stock worth $126,423,337 over the last quarter. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Palo Alto Networks

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

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.