Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Trading 2.4% Higher – Still a Buy?

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)’s share price shot up 2.4% on Friday . The stock traded as high as $360.49 and last traded at $357.87. 5,104,143 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 41% from the average daily volume of 8,657,283 shares. The stock had previously closed at $349.56.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have issued reports on PANW. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $415.00 price target (up from $335.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Thursday. Morgan Stanley set a $400.00 price objective on Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Monday, August 17th. Capital One Financial set a $421.00 price objective on Palo Alto Networks and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Northland Securities increased their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $190.00 to $302.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Finally, Truist Financial set a $435.00 target price on Palo Alto Networks and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty have given a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $362.67.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 2.4%

The company has a market capitalization of $291.80 billion, a PE ratio of 293.48, a PEG ratio of 12.02 and a beta of 0.91. The company’s 50 day moving average is $337.38 and its two-hundred day moving average is $241.72. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04.

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. The company had revenue of $3 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.94 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 7.95% and a return on equity of 10.53%. Palo Alto Networks’s revenue for the quarter was up 31.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period 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. On average, analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, Director Helle Thorning-Schmidt sold 700 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $346.85, for a total value of $242,795.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 5,898 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,045,721.30. The trade was a 10.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 900 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $345.00, for a total value of $310,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 79,644 shares in the company, valued at $27,477,180. This represents a 1.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 37,935 shares of company stock valued at $10,809,461. 1.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Palo Alto Networks

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Brighton Jones LLC increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 147.7% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,761 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,230,000 after purchasing an additional 4,031 shares during the last quarter. Bison Wealth LLC lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 169.1% in the fourth quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 5,212 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $948,000 after buying an additional 3,275 shares during the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 66.3% in the second quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 3,484 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $713,000 after buying an additional 1,389 shares during the last quarter. Osterweis Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 11,100.0% during the second quarter. Osterweis Capital Management Inc. now owns 560 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $115,000 after buying an additional 555 shares during the period. Finally, Main Street Financial Solutions LLC boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 6.0% during the second quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC now owns 4,398 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $900,000 after buying an additional 249 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.