Morgan Stanley Issues Positive Forecast for Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Stock Price

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) had its price target hoisted by Morgan Stanley from $216.00 to $228.00 in a report released on Thursday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The firm currently has an overweight rating on the network technology company’s stock.

Several other research firms also recently issued reports on PANW. DA Davidson reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $215.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday, August 19th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $220.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $217.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 19th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $223.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Friday, August 15th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Twenty-nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $221.52.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of PANW stock traded up $0.48 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $205.25. The company had a trading volume of 5,370,396 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,576,151. Palo Alto Networks has a 12-month low of $144.15 and a 12-month high of $223.61. The company has a market capitalization of $140.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 127.88, a PEG ratio of 4.87 and a beta of 0.95. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $209.07 and a 200-day moving average of $197.06.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its earnings results on Monday, August 18th. The network technology company reported $0.95 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $2.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.50 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 12.30% and a return on equity of 17.66%. Palo Alto Networks’s revenue was up 15.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business 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. On average, analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $191.11, for a total value of $23,081,119.14. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 177,954 shares in the company, valued at $34,008,788.94. The trade was a 40.43% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $219.97, for a total value of $153,979.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 47,505 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,449,674.85. The trade was a 1.45% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 1,215,830 shares of company stock worth $249,160,428. Corporate insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the 1st quarter worth $810,047,000. Norges Bank bought a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter valued at $675,865,000. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC acquired a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter worth $633,068,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 41.9% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 7,235,406 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,234,650,000 after purchasing an additional 2,134,735 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 77.1% in the 1st 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 purchasing an additional 1,688,432 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

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.