Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Shares Up 3.8% – Time to Buy?

Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) rose 3.8% during mid-day trading on Friday . The stock traded as high as $306.24 and last traded at $304.20. 8,127,936 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 13% from the average daily volume of 9,390,306 shares. The stock had previously closed at $293.09.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PANW has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus set a $340.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. FBN Securities reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $330.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Stephens raised their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $180.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Needham & Company LLC boosted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Finally, Scotiabank restated a “sector outperform” rating and issued a $320.00 target price (up from $180.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-eight have given a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $306.59.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 3.8%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.86. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $241.22 and its 200-day simple moving average is $196.11. The stock has a market cap of $247.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 249.34, a PEG ratio of 11.30 and a beta of 0.94.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, June 2nd. The network technology company reported $0.85 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $3 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.94 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 10.53% and a net margin of 7.95%.The business’s revenue was up 31.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.37 earnings per share. Palo Alto Networks has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.770-3.790 EPS and its Q4 2026 guidance at 0.960-0.980 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 1,100 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $285.08, for a total transaction of $313,588.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 81,636 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,272,790.88. This represents a 1.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $289.56, for a total transaction of $1,447,800.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 145,250 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $42,058,590. This represents a 3.33% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 106,389 shares of company stock valued at $27,570,630 over the last three months. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Palo Alto Networks

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Aviva PLC raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 5.4% during the fourth quarter. Aviva PLC now owns 568,804 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $104,774,000 after purchasing an additional 29,230 shares in the last quarter. Granite Islands Private Wealth LLC boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 43.6% during the 1st quarter. Granite Islands Private Wealth LLC now owns 15,342 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $2,453,000 after purchasing an additional 4,659 shares in the last quarter. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 8.8% during the 4th quarter. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp now owns 48,458 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $8,926,000 after purchasing an additional 3,926 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 134.1% during the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 672,129 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $136,859,000 after purchasing an additional 384,985 shares during the period. Finally, Oak Thistle LLC acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 4th quarter valued at $1,554,000. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.