HSBC Lowers Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Price Target to $114.00

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) had its price target dropped by HSBC from $157.00 to $114.00 in a note issued to investors on Thursday,MarketScreener reports. HSBC’s price objective points to a potential downside of 23.34% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other research firms have also weighed in on PANW. BTIG Research restated a “buy” rating and set a $200.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday. UBS Group set a $215.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. Northland Securities upped their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $177.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $200.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $185.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Thirty-three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $212.51.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 1.5%

Shares of NASDAQ PANW opened at $148.70 on Thursday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $178.60 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $191.49. Palo Alto Networks has a 12 month low of $144.15 and a 12 month high of $223.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $121.34 billion, a PE ratio of 82.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.09 and a beta of 0.75.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 17th. The network technology company reported $1.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.94 by $0.09. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 12.96% and a return on equity of 17.60%. The company had revenue of $2.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.58 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.81 earnings per share. Palo Alto Networks’s quarterly revenue was up 14.9% on a year-over-year basis. Palo Alto Networks has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.650-3.700 EPS and its Q3 2026 guidance at 0.780-0.800 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $188.18, for a total transaction of $940,900.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 155,119 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,190,293.42. This represents a 3.12% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.81, for a total value of $147,848.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 46,005 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,502,184.05. This trade represents a 1.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 260,542 shares of company stock worth $49,910,995 in the last three months. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Palo Alto Networks

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of PANW. Cambient Family Office LLC bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,711,000. McLaughlin Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 4th quarter worth $2,260,000. Wick Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 4th quarter valued at $294,000. Mcguire Capital Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 4th quarter worth $68,000. Finally, Hamilton Wealth LLC raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Hamilton Wealth LLC now owns 24,006 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $4,422,000 after purchasing an additional 406 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Key Palo Alto Networks News

Here are the key news stories impacting Palo Alto Networks this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Palo Alto announced the planned acquisition of Koi, a startup focused on agentic endpoint security — a strategic move to plug AI-related security gaps and expand its AI/security platform footprint. Palo Alto Networks (PANW) to Acquire Koi
• Positive Sentiment: Palo Alto filed an offer relating to CyberArk’s convertible notes tied to its CyberArk acquisition, signaling active balance-sheet management as it closes recent M&A. This helps reassure investors that integration and financing steps are being executed. Palo Alto Networks Announces Offer to Purchase Relating to CyberArk Software Ltd.’s Notes
• Positive Sentiment: Recent quarter showed revenue and EPS roughly in line-to-slightly-better-than expectations and management raised revenue guidance at the low end, supporting the case for durable topline growth driven by platform and subscription momentum. (Company releases and analyst coverage)
• Neutral Sentiment: Several firms reiterated Outperform/Buy ratings (e.g., Citizens JMP, Wedbush, RBC, Rosenblatt) — indicating pockets of institutional confidence even as some analysts trimmed estimates.
• Negative Sentiment: A cluster of analyst downgrades and price-target cuts hit PANW, driving headline selling and raising near-term skepticism about margin recovery amid integration costs. See coverage of the downgrade-driven selloff. Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Stock Price Down 6.8% on Analyst Downgrade
• Negative Sentiment: Susquehanna cut its price target (and multiple banks including Goldman, HSBC, Mizuho, BMO and others issued more pessimistic forecasts or lowered targets), amplifying pressure on the stock’s near-term outlook. Susquehanna Lowers Palo Alto Networks Price Target to $200.00
• Negative Sentiment: HSBC notably cut its target to $114, highlighting the range of analyst views and contributing to sentiment-driven selling. HSBC Adjusts Price Target on Palo Alto Networks to $114
• Negative Sentiment: Unusually large put-option buying and elevated volume/gap-down trading indicate traders are positioned for further near-term weakness; this increases volatility and can exacerbate downward moves until clarity on integration costs and margin recovery arrives.

About Palo Alto Networks

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ: PANW) is a cybersecurity company founded in 2005 and headquartered in Santa Clara, California. The firm develops a broad suite of security products and services designed to prevent successful cyberattacks and protect enterprise networks, clouds, and endpoints. Built around a platform strategy, its offerings target threat prevention, detection, response and governance across hybrid and multi-cloud environments.

The company’s product portfolio includes next‑generation firewalls as a core on‑premises capability, alongside cloud‑delivered security services and software for securing public and private clouds.