Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Stock Price Up 5.5% – Should You Buy?

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)’s stock price rose 5.5% during trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $338.37 and last traded at $338.31. 8,394,495 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 10% from the average daily volume of 9,339,520 shares. The stock had previously closed at $320.59.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PANW has been the topic of several recent research reports. Benchmark upped their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $270.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. BNP Paribas Exane raised their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $330.00 to $380.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. Citigroup restated a “market outperform” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Scotiabank restated a “sector outperform” rating and issued a $320.00 price target (up from $180.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Finally, Mizuho increased their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $265.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have issued a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $318.65.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 5.5%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 0.86. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $268.04 and its 200-day simple moving average is $204.73. The company has a market capitalization of $275.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 277.30, a PEG ratio of 12.51 and a beta of 0.91.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, June 2nd. The network technology company reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 business had revenue of $3 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.94 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.37 EPS. The business’s 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. Research analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, Director Helle Thorning-Schmidt sold 700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $346.85, for a total transaction of $242,795.00. Following the sale, the director owned 5,898 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,045,721.30. The trade was a 10.61% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director James J. Goetz sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $279.90, for a total value 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 represents a 50.00% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 101,239 shares of company stock valued at $27,174,360. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 4.1% in the fourth 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 last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 2.0% in the 4th 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 during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 16.0% in 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 in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 540,756 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the 4th quarter worth $1,415,364,000. 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.