Brokerages Set Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) PT at $331.48

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the forty-nine ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, seven have assigned a hold recommendation, forty have given a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $331.4783.

PANW has been the topic of several analyst reports. Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $265.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Robert W. Baird set a $320.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Loop Capital lifted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $160.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday, June 16th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $387.00 price target (up from $320.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday, July 21st.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $323.79 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $263.89 billion, a PE ratio of 265.40, a P/E/G ratio of 12.02 and a beta of 0.91. 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 company’s fifty day simple moving average is $300.79 and its 200-day simple moving average is $217.83. Palo Alto Networks has a 1-year low of $139.57 and a 1-year high of $368.80.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, June 2nd. The network technology company reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.06. The business 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%.Palo Alto Networks’s revenue for the quarter was up 31.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $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. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks will post 2.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, Director James J. Goetz sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $279.90, for a total transaction of $5,598,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 20,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,598,000. This trade represents a 50.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $289.56, for a total value of $1,447,800.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 145,250 shares in the company, valued at $42,058,590. This trade represents a 3.33% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 101,239 shares of company stock valued at $27,174,360. 1.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Allied Private Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter worth about $38,000. Darwin Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter worth about $25,000. Knuff & Co LLC purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Steph & Co. lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 88.2% in the fourth quarter. Steph & Co. now owns 143 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sittner & Nelson LLC lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 73.8% in the fourth quarter. Sittner & Nelson LLC now owns 146 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Palo Alto Networks Company Profile

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.