Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) Receives $342.61 Consensus Target Price from Analysts

Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) have been given a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” by the forty-eight ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have issued a hold recommendation, forty have assigned a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $362.6667.

Several research analysts have recently commented on PANW shares. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $209.00 to $253.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $434.00 price target (up from $330.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Friday, August 14th. New Street Research set a $415.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Tuesday. Stifel Nicolaus set a $415.00 price target on Palo Alto Networks and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $320.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 2.4%

PANW stock opened at $358.04 on Tuesday. Palo Alto Networks has a one year low of $139.57 and a one year high of $398.88. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $337.38 and its 200-day moving average price is $241.72. The firm has a market cap of $291.80 billion, a PE ratio of 293.48, a PEG ratio of 12.02 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 0.86.

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 for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $3 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.94 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 10.53% and a net margin of 7.95%.The company’s revenue was up 31.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.37 EPS. 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, equities research analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks will post 2.02 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Palo Alto Networks news, Director John P. Key sold 7,500 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Friday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $279.24, for a total value of $2,094,300.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 12,500 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,490,500. The trade was a 37.50% 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, Director Helle Thorning-Schmidt sold 700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $346.85, for a total value of $242,795.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 5,898 shares in the company, valued at $2,045,721.30. This trade represents a 10.61% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 37,935 shares of company stock valued at $10,809,461 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Palo Alto Networks

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 15.0% in the 1st quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 410,401 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $65,796,000 after purchasing an additional 53,485 shares in the last quarter. Aviva PLC raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 5.4% in the 4th quarter. Aviva PLC now owns 568,804 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $104,774,000 after purchasing an additional 29,230 shares during the last quarter. B&D White Capital Company LLC purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the first quarter valued at approximately $353,000. Bridgewater Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter worth $2,159,000. Finally, Granite Islands Private Wealth LLC increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 43.6% in the first 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 during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

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.