Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Trading Up 2.7% – Time to Buy?

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)’s share price rose 2.7% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $295.54 and last traded at $293.09. 8,900,372 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 5% from the average daily volume of 9,399,274 shares. The stock had previously closed at $285.26.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently commented on PANW shares. Oppenheimer increased their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $275.00 to $350.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Scotiabank reiterated a “sector outperform” rating and set a $320.00 price target (up from $180.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Citigroup restated a “market outperform” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note 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. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $270.00 to $335.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-eight have issued a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $306.59.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 2.7%

The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $235.79 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $194.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $238.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 240.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 10.80 and a beta of 0.94.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, June 2nd. The network technology company reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.06. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 10.53% and a net margin of 7.95%.The company had revenue of $3 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.94 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.37 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 31.1% compared to the same quarter last year. 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. Equities research analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.03 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director James J. Goetz sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the director owned 20,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,598,000. This represents a 50.00% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 145,250 shares in the company, valued at approximately $42,058,590. This represents a 3.33% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders sold 106,389 shares of company stock valued at $27,570,630. Insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 4.1% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 67,929,063 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $12,512,533,000 after acquiring an additional 2,659,100 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 30,331,705 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $5,587,100,000 after purchasing an additional 594,789 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 16.0% during the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 22,476,753 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $3,603,473,000 after purchasing an additional 3,101,267 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in 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 buying an additional 540,756 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the fourth quarter worth about $1,415,364,000. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.