Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Trading 1.2% Higher After Analyst Upgrade

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)’s share price traded up 1.2% during mid-day trading on Tuesday after Bank of America raised their price target on the stock from $215.00 to $240.00. Bank of America currently has a buy rating on the stock. Palo Alto Networks traded as high as $215.09 and last traded at $214.40. 3,697,093 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 41% from the average session volume of 6,271,662 shares. The stock had previously closed at $211.82.

Several other brokerages also recently issued reports on PANW. Mizuho increased their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 17th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $210.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 2nd. Guggenheim increased their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 19th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $230.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Finally, JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and set a $212.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday, August 19th. Thirty 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 MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $217.22.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $211.92, for a total transaction of $25,594,426.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 149,190 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $31,616,344.80. This represents a 44.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 846,408 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $204.06, for a total value of $172,718,016.48. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 275,013 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $56,119,152.78. This trade represents a 75.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 1,315,130 shares of company stock valued at $260,687,367 in the last 90 days. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of PANW. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the first quarter valued at approximately $810,047,000. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter valued at approximately $675,865,000. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter valued at approximately $633,068,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 41.9% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 7,235,406 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,234,650,000 after buying an additional 2,134,735 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 77.1% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 3,879,506 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $662,000,000 after buying an additional 1,688,432 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $143.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 133.58, a PEG ratio of 5.04 and a beta of 0.98. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $198.45 and a 200-day moving average price of $191.16.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.89 by $0.06. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 17.66% 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 period last year, the firm posted $0.75 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 15.8% on a year-over-year basis. 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 forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

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.