Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Updates FY 2026 Earnings Guidance

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) updated its FY 2026 earnings guidance on Tuesday. The company provided EPS guidance of 3.650-3.700 for the period, compared to the consensus EPS estimate of 3.140. The company issued revenue guidance of $11.3 billion-$11.3 billion, compared to the consensus revenue estimate of $10.5 billion. Palo Alto Networks also updated its Q3 2026 guidance to 0.780-0.800 EPS.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 2.1%

PANW traded down $3.45 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $163.50. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 15,927,121 shares, compared to its average volume of 10,336,087. The firm has a market capitalization of $113.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 103.48, a P/E/G ratio of 3.99 and a beta of 0.75. Palo Alto Networks has a twelve month low of $144.15 and a twelve month high of $223.61. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $181.69 and its 200 day simple moving average is $192.28.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.89 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $2.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.46 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 17.05% and a net margin of 11.69%.The business’s revenue was up 15.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.56 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently commented on the stock. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $245.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $220.00 price objective on Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, February 11th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Monday, December 29th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 17th. Finally, Citigroup reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Monday, January 12th. Thirty-one equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $223.08.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 800 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.81, for a total transaction of $147,848.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 46,005 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,502,184.05. This represents a 1.71% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,768 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $191.03, for a total value of $23,070,311.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 298,887 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $57,096,383.61. This represents a 28.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 260,542 shares of company stock worth $49,910,995 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

More Palo Alto Networks News

Here are the key news stories impacting Palo Alto Networks this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Palo Alto beat top-line expectations with fiscal Q2 revenue of about $2.6B and Next‑Generation Security ARR up ~33% to $6.3B, showing continued demand for its platform. PR: Q2 Results
• Positive Sentiment: Management materially raised full‑year revenue guidance to $11.28B–$11.31B (from ~$10.5B prior), signaling stronger-than-expected top-line prospects for FY26. WSJ: Revenue Outlook Lifted
• Positive Sentiment: Product and research pushes — MSIAM 2.0 launch and Unit 42 AI/incident report — reinforce the company’s AI/security positioning and help the platform narrative. PR: MSIAM 2.0
• Neutral Sentiment: Analysts remain mixed but generally constructive: some firms keep Buy/outperform ratings while trimming targets as they digest valuation and execution risk. Channel checks cited by some brokers point to improving demand. InsiderMonkey: BTIG Checks
• Negative Sentiment: Management trimmed its annual profit forecast and issued fiscal Q3 profit guidance below Street expectations, explicitly citing rising costs from recent acquisitions to bolster AI capabilities — the guidance hit sentiment and sparked after‑hours selling. Reuters: Profit Forecast Cut
• Negative Sentiment: The announced intent to acquire Koi (agentic endpoint security) increased investor concern about near-term integration and expense load; reports noted the stock reacted negatively to the deal news. PR: Koi Acquisition
• Negative Sentiment: Some brokers trimmed price targets (example: Mizuho lowered its target), reflecting concern about near-term profitability and valuation pressure on software names. The Fly: PT Lowered

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PANW. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 11.9% in the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 19,375,486 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $3,568,964,000 after acquiring an additional 2,065,776 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1,226.3% during the fourth quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 908,500 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $167,346,000 after acquiring an additional 840,000 shares during the period. Amundi raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 25.1% during the third quarter. Amundi now owns 3,532,201 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $750,875,000 after purchasing an additional 708,332 shares in the last quarter. DRW Securities LLC lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 100.2% in the fourth quarter. DRW Securities LLC now owns 1,490 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $266,000 after purchasing an additional 619,631 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 29,736,916 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $6,055,031,000 after purchasing an additional 505,924 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.