Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Trading Up 1.6% – Still a Buy?

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)’s stock price was up 1.6% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $292.14 and last traded at $290.92. Approximately 5,420,480 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 43% from the average daily volume of 9,431,448 shares. The stock had previously closed at $286.40.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. Robert W. Baird set a $320.00 price objective on Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Susquehanna reissued a “positive” rating and issued a $350.00 target price (up from $200.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. HSBC raised their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $114.00 to $207.00 in a research note on Thursday, June 4th. UBS Group set a $300.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Finally, Loop Capital upped their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $160.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-eight have given a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $306.59.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

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 business’s fifty day simple moving average is $230.63 and its 200-day simple moving average is $193.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $237.10 billion, a PE ratio of 238.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 10.69 and a beta of 0.94.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, June 2nd. The network technology company reported $0.85 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.06. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 7.95% and a return on equity of 10.53%. The firm had revenue of $3 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.94 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.37 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly 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. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.03 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 62,904 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $258.65, for a total value of $16,270,119.60. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 235,983 shares in the company, valued at approximately $61,037,002.95. The trade was a 21.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Aparna Bawa sold 345 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $290.17, for a total value of $100,108.65. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 7,359 shares in the company, valued at $2,135,361.03. This represents a 4.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 101,389 shares of company stock worth $26,122,830. 1.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Palo Alto Networks

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in 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 purchasing an additional 2,659,100 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of 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 worth $5,587,100,000 after buying an additional 594,789 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE increased its holdings in shares of 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 worth $3,603,473,000 after buying an additional 3,101,267 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of 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 worth $2,934,935,000 after buying an additional 540,756 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,415,364,000. 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.