Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Shares Up 5% – Should You Buy?

Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) rose 5% during mid-day trading on Wednesday. The company traded as high as $393.52 and last traded at $393.30. 6,193,192 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 27% from the average daily volume of 8,468,062 shares. The stock had previously closed at $374.57.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have commented on PANW shares. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Tuesday, June 16th. Stephens set a $400.00 target price on Palo Alto Networks and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Wolfe Research restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $320.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus set a $415.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 19th. Finally, Phillip Securities lowered shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “moderate buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $320.00 to $346.00 in a report on Monday, September 7th. Thirty-eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $390.02.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $355.70 and a 200 day moving average price of $276.07. The stock has a market cap of $306.73 billion, a PE ratio of 735.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 10.78 and a beta of 0.91.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, September 1st. The network technology company reported $1.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.98 by $0.04. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 2.67% and a return on equity of 8.50%. The company had revenue of $3.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.35 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.95 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 34.5% on a year-over-year basis. Palo Alto Networks has set its FY 2027 guidance at 4.160-4.190 EPS and its Q1 2027 guidance at 0.960-0.980 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.31 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, Director John P. Key sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $376.03, for a total transaction of $940,075.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 10,000 shares in the company, valued at $3,760,300. This represents a 20.00% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director James Goetz sold 20,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $376.68, for a total value of $7,533,600.00. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders sold 28,322 shares of company stock worth $10,546,409. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter valued at about $25,833,462,000. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 4.2% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 36,979,497 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $12,610,748,000 after acquiring an additional 1,493,179 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 0.9% during the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 22,681,876 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $7,734,973,000 after acquiring an additional 205,123 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,989,257 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $2,934,935,000 after purchasing an additional 540,756 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 8.7% in the 2nd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 8,778,963 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $2,993,802,000 after purchasing an additional 706,003 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Palo Alto Networks

Palo Alto Networks, Inc is a cybersecurity company that provides security products and services to businesses, governments and other organizations worldwide. The company helps customers protect networks, cloud environments, endpoints, applications and connected devices from cyber threats.

Its portfolio includes next-generation firewalls and network security technologies, as well as cloud-delivered security solutions such as Prisma Access and Prisma Cloud. Palo Alto Networks also offers Cortex products for endpoint protection, security operations, threat detection and response, and automation.