Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Trading 1.1% Higher – Still a Buy?

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) shares shot up 1.1% during trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $339.40 and last traded at $336.98. Approximately 5,900,281 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 31% from the average daily volume of 8,547,289 shares. The stock had previously closed at $333.26.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on PANW shares. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $434.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Wedbush boosted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $300.00 to $340.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $425.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday, September 1st. Finally, UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $390.00 target price (up from $300.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, August 19th. Thirty-nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $385.67.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

The business’s fifty day moving average is $350.21 and its 200 day moving average is $256.64. The company has a market cap of $274.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 660.76, a PEG ratio of 9.62 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, September 1st. The network technology company reported $1.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $3.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.35 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 8.50% and a net margin of 2.67%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 34.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.95 EPS. Palo Alto Networks has set its FY 2027 guidance at 4.160-4.190 EPS and its Q1 2027 guidance at 0.960-0.980 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.3 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, Director James J. Goetz sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $279.90, for a total value of $5,598,000.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 20,000 shares in the company, valued at $5,598,000. This represents a 50.00% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Aparna Bawa sold 290 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $348.74, for a total transaction of $101,134.60. Following the transaction, the director owned 6,437 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,244,839.38. This trade represents a 4.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 38,635 shares of company stock worth $11,150,578 in the last three months. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Palo Alto Networks

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Trilogy Capital Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter. Trilogy Capital Inc. now owns 2,127 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $725,000 after buying an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. Wisconsin Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 1.2% in the second quarter. Wisconsin Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,206 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,093,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Orrstown Financial Services Inc. increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 1.2% in the second quarter. Orrstown Financial Services Inc. now owns 3,197 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,090,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 125.0% in the second quarter. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 81 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. Finally, WNY Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 2.8% during the second quarter. WNY Asset Management LLC now owns 1,751 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $597,000 after purchasing an additional 47 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

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.