Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Trading 2% Higher on Analyst Upgrade

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)’s share price shot up 2% during mid-day trading on Monday after Barclays raised their price target on the stock from $215.00 to $230.00. Barclays currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Palo Alto Networks traded as high as $216.82 and last traded at $216.54. 4,408,351 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 29% from the average session volume of 6,166,193 shares. The stock had previously closed at $212.29.

PANW has been the topic of several other research reports. Citigroup reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Monday, October 27th. Truist Financial set a $220.00 price objective on Palo Alto Networks and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 19th. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $207.00 price objective on Palo Alto Networks and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 19th. JMP Securities increased their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $212.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 27th. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 17th. Thirty investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $218.55.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 846,408 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $204.06, for a total value of $172,718,016.48. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 275,013 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $56,119,152.78. This represents a 75.48% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owned 47,505 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,449,674.85. This trade represents a 1.45% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 1,215,830 shares of company stock valued at $249,160,428 in the last three months. Insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of PANW. Darwin Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter worth $25,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 6,400.0% during the second quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 130 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 128 shares during the period. Briaud Financial Planning Inc bought a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter valued at about $28,000. Howard Hughes Medical Institute bought a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter valued at about $29,000. Finally, MTM Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 2.0%

The firm has a market capitalization of $144.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 134.92, a PEG ratio of 5.05 and a beta of 0.95. The business has a 50 day moving average of $207.16 and a 200-day moving average of $196.19.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 18th. The network technology company reported $0.95 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.89 by $0.06. The business 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%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 15.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.75 earnings per share. 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 anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.