New Street Research Lowers Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Price Target to $220.00

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) had its price objective decreased by research analysts at New Street Research from $240.00 to $220.00 in a report issued on Thursday,MarketScreener reports. The brokerage currently has a “buy” rating on the network technology company’s stock. New Street Research’s price target suggests a potential upside of 47.95% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other equities research analysts have also commented on the company. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $265.00 price target (up previously from $230.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Monday, January 5th. DA Davidson set a $190.00 target price on Palo Alto Networks and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $245.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, November 20th. Citizens Jmp reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and set a $250.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein set a $209.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Thirty-three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $212.51.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PANW opened at $148.70 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $121.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 82.15, a PEG ratio of 5.09 and a beta of 0.75. Palo Alto Networks has a one year low of $144.15 and a one year high of $223.61. The company’s fifty day moving average is $178.60 and its two-hundred day moving average is $191.49.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.94 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $2.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.58 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 12.96% and a return on equity of 17.60%. The business’s revenue was up 14.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.81 EPS. 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 forecast that Palo Alto Networks will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Palo Alto Networks 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 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director James J. Goetz sold 12,500 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Monday, December 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $195.33, for a total value of $2,441,625.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 75,184 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,685,690.72. This represents a 14.26% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 260,542 shares of company stock valued at $49,910,995. Insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of PANW. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 29.4% during the third quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 32,155 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $6,547,000 after acquiring an additional 7,301 shares in the last quarter. Silver Oak Securities Incorporated lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 240.1% in the 3rd quarter. Silver Oak Securities Incorporated now owns 11,732 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $2,389,000 after purchasing an additional 8,282 shares in the last quarter. GoalVest Advisory LLC grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 1,248.9% in the 3rd quarter. GoalVest Advisory LLC now owns 10,899 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $2,219,000 after purchasing an additional 10,091 shares during the period. Schroder Investment Management Group increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 7.9% during the 2nd quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 2,234,551 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $457,279,000 after purchasing an additional 163,718 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Richmond Investment Services LLC raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 87.2% during the second quarter. Richmond Investment Services LLC now owns 3,286 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $672,000 after buying an additional 1,531 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks News Summary

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.