Palo Alto Networks’ (PANW) Buy Rating Reiterated at BTIG Research

BTIG Research reaffirmed their buy rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) in a research report released on Wednesday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. They currently have a $380.00 price objective on the network technology company’s stock.

PANW has been the subject of a number of other research reports. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $390.00 target price (up from $300.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, August 19th. DA Davidson upped their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $190.00 to $345.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Morgan Stanley set a $400.00 price objective on Palo Alto Networks in a report on Monday, August 17th. Arete Research raised their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $185.00 to $433.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, June 29th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $415.00 target price on Palo Alto Networks and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty have assigned a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $368.42.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 2.9%

Shares of NASDAQ:PANW opened at $371.59 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $344.62 and its 200 day moving average price is $248.45. The stock has a market cap of $302.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 304.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 12.10 and a beta of 0.91. Palo Alto Networks has a fifty-two week low of $139.57 and a fifty-two week high of $398.88. 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 issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, June 2nd. The network technology company reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 company had revenue of $3 billion during 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 firm’s quarterly revenue was up 31.1% on a year-over-year basis. 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 predict that Palo Alto Networks will post 2.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $353.77, for a total value of $318,393.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 73,354 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $25,950,444.58. This represents a 1.21% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Helle Thorning-Schmidt sold 700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $346.85, for a total value of $242,795.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 5,898 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,045,721.30. This trade represents a 10.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders sold 38,835 shares of company stock worth $11,127,854. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Palo Alto Networks

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. California State Teachers Retirement System increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 35,252.4% in the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 417,760,413 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $142,464,656,000 after purchasing an additional 416,578,710 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the second quarter worth about $25,833,462,000. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2.0% during the fourth 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 during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 0.9% during the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 22,681,876 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $7,734,973,000 after buying an additional 205,123 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in 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 valued at $2,934,935,000 after acquiring an additional 540,756 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Trending Headlines about Palo Alto Networks

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

• Positive Sentiment: Benchmark raised its price target to $400 from $340 and maintained a Buy rating, citing potential upside to next-generation security annual recurring revenue, revenue, operating income and margins. The forecast reinforces expectations that Palo Alto Networks’ AI-security strategy is gaining traction. Palo Alto Networks Gets a $400 Target
• Positive Sentiment: Investors are taking confidence from CrowdStrike’s stronger-than-expected results, which highlighted robust AI-related cybersecurity demand and lifted sentiment across the sector. Palo Alto Networks is viewed as a potential beneficiary of the same spending cycle. Palo Alto Networks Stock Trades Up
• Positive Sentiment: Platformization, adoption of AI-security products and recent deal wins are expected to support fourth-quarter growth. BTIG also assigned PANW a Buy rating, adding to broadly favorable analyst coverage. Palo Alto Networks to Report Q4 Earnings
• Neutral Sentiment: Earnings are the next major catalyst. Traders expect potentially significant movement after the report, while analysts are watching recurring revenue, margins, operating income and guidance—not just revenue and EPS. Expected Post-Earnings Stock Move
• Negative Sentiment: Acquisition-related costs could pressure results, and the stock’s triple-digit P/E ratio—above 300 based on the supplied data—means much of the AI-growth outlook may already be reflected in the price. Any shortfall in growth or guidance could trigger profit-taking. Palo Alto’s Rally Has One Big Problem Ahead of Earnings
• Negative Sentiment: Chief Accounting Officer Josh D. Paul sold 900 shares for approximately $318,000, reducing his position by 1.21%. The transaction is small relative to his remaining holdings but may create a modest sentiment headwind. Palo Alto Networks Insider Sale

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.