Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Stock Price Up 6.8% – Should You Buy?

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)’s stock price traded up 6.8% during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $353.68 and last traded at $352.89. Approximately 5,970,690 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 35% from the average session volume of 9,256,544 shares. The stock had previously closed at $330.30.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have issued reports on PANW. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $325.00 to $420.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 1st. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $345.00 target price (up from $265.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group set a $335.00 price target on Palo Alto Networks and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Arete Research upped their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $185.00 to $433.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, June 29th. Finally, TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating and set a $330.00 price objective (up from $255.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty have issued a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $327.74.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

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 business has a 50-day moving average price of $283.88 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $210.11. The firm has a market capitalization of $288.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 288.87, a PEG ratio of 13.10 and a beta of 0.91.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. The business had revenue of $3 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.94 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 10.53% and a net margin of 7.95%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 31.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm 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. As a group, research analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.03 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $289.56, for a total transaction of $1,447,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 62,904 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $258.65, for a total transaction of $16,270,119.60. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 235,983 shares in the company, valued at approximately $61,037,002.95. This trade represents a 21.05% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 101,239 shares of company stock valued at $27,174,360. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Trust Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 19.4% during the second quarter. Trust Asset Management LLC now owns 8,639 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $2,946,000 after buying an additional 1,401 shares during the period. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter valued at $368,000. Annex Advisory Services LLC acquired a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter worth $222,000. Whitener Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 3.5% in the second quarter. Whitener Capital Management Inc. now owns 12,312 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $4,199,000 after purchasing an additional 415 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tema ETFs LLC increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 10.3% during the second quarter. Tema ETFs LLC now owns 13,985 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $4,769,000 after purchasing an additional 1,305 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

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.