BTIG Research Reiterates “Buy” Rating for Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW)

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reissued by investment analysts at BTIG Research in a note issued to investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $200.00 price target on the network technology company’s stock. BTIG Research’s price target would suggest a potential upside of 22.32% from the stock’s previous close.

PANW has been the subject of a number of other reports. Mizuho dropped their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $220.00 to $205.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Truist Financial set a $200.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Stifel Nicolaus set a $200.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday, February 10th. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $265.00 price target (up previously from $230.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Monday, January 5th. Finally, Citizens Jmp boosted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $212.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 27th. Thirty equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $220.74.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 2.1%

Shares of PANW opened at $163.50 on Wednesday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $181.06 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $192.21. Palo Alto Networks has a 52 week low of $144.15 and a 52 week high of $223.61. The stock has a market cap of $113.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 103.48, a PEG ratio of 3.99 and a beta of 0.75.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 17th. The network technology company reported $1.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.94 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $2.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.58 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 17.05% and a net margin of 11.69%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 14.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.81 EPS. Palo Alto Networks has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.650-3.700 EPS and its Q3 2026 guidance at 0.780-0.800 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,768 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $191.03, for a total transaction of $23,070,311.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 298,887 shares in the company, valued at $57,096,383.61. This trade represents a 28.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director James J. Goetz sold 12,500 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Monday, December 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $195.33, for a total transaction of $2,441,625.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 75,184 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,685,690.72. The trade was a 14.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 260,542 shares of company stock valued at $49,910,995 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 29.4% in the third quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 32,155 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $6,547,000 after acquiring an additional 7,301 shares during the period. Silver Oak Securities Incorporated increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 240.1% during the 3rd quarter. Silver Oak Securities Incorporated now owns 11,732 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $2,389,000 after purchasing an additional 8,282 shares in the last quarter. GoalVest Advisory LLC increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1,248.9% during the 3rd quarter. GoalVest Advisory LLC now owns 10,899 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $2,219,000 after purchasing an additional 10,091 shares in the last quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 7.9% in the 2nd quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 2,234,551 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $457,279,000 after purchasing an additional 163,718 shares during the period. Finally, Richmond Investment Services LLC boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 87.2% during the second quarter. Richmond Investment Services LLC now owns 3,286 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $672,000 after buying an additional 1,531 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: Q2 operational beat — Palo Alto reported $1.03 EPS and roughly $2.59B revenue, topping consensus and showing ~15% YoY revenue growth and 33% growth in Next‑Generation Security ARR, supporting the company’s platform momentum. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Raised revenue outlook — Management lifted full‑year revenue guidance to roughly $11.28B–$11.31B (from ~$10.5B prior), which signals stronger top‑line expectations even as margins are pressured. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Product & research cadence — Palo Alto announced new offerings (MSIAM 2.0) and released its Unit 42 report on AI‑driven threats, underscoring product innovation and thought leadership in AI security but with uncertain near‑term financial impact. Article Title Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst tone mixed but constructive — Some sell‑side checks (BTIG, others) stay positive on demand and firewall momentum though price targets have been trimmed amid sector valuation pressure. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Margin/earnings pressure from M&A — Reuters reports Palo Alto trimmed an annual profit forecast citing deal‑related costs to bolster AI capabilities; that comment triggered an after‑hours selloff as investors fretted about near‑term margin dilution. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Guidance reaction — Media coverage noted the fiscal Q3 profit guidance and commentary disappointed some investors despite beats, contributing to the share decline in extended trading. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Acquisition noise — The announcement of an intent to acquire Koi (agentic endpoint focus) drew investor concern about integration and near‑term costs; coverage linked the deal to the volatility. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Price target adjustments — Some analysts trimmed targets (e.g., Mizuho lowered to $205) reflecting valuation risks and near‑term uncertainty even as ratings remain constructive. Article Title

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.