Palo Alto Networks’ (PANW) “Market Outperform” Rating Reiterated at Citizens Jmp

Citizens Jmp restated their market outperform rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $250.00 price target on the network technology company’s stock.

PANW has been the topic of several other research reports. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $209.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Monday, December 29th. Stephens lifted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 20th. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $225.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $235.00 to $225.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 10th. Thirty-three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $212.51.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

PANW stock opened at $148.70 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $121.34 billion, a PE ratio of 82.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.09 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $178.60 and a 200 day moving average price of $191.49. Palo Alto Networks has a fifty-two week low of $144.15 and a fifty-two week high of $223.61.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 17th. The network technology company reported $1.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.94 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $2.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.58 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 17.60% and a net margin of 12.96%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.81 earnings per share. 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. As a group, equities analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $188.18, for a total transaction of $940,900.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 155,119 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,190,293.42. This trade represents a 3.12% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,768 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owned 298,887 shares in the company, valued at approximately $57,096,383.61. The trade was a 28.78% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 260,542 shares of company stock valued at $49,910,995 in the last quarter. 1.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PANW. Darwin Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the second quarter worth about $25,000. Steph & Co. boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 88.2% during the 4th quarter. Steph & Co. now owns 143 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. Knuff & Co LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 6,400.0% in the second quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 130 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 128 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sittner & Nelson LLC boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 73.8% during the fourth quarter. Sittner & Nelson LLC now owns 146 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks News Roundup

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

• Positive Sentiment: Palo Alto announced the planned acquisition of Koi, a startup focused on agentic endpoint security — a strategic move to plug AI-related security gaps and expand its AI/security platform footprint. Palo Alto Networks (PANW) to Acquire Koi
• Positive Sentiment: Palo Alto filed an offer relating to CyberArk’s convertible notes tied to its CyberArk acquisition, signaling active balance-sheet management as it closes recent M&A. This helps reassure investors that integration and financing steps are being executed. Palo Alto Networks Announces Offer to Purchase Relating to CyberArk Software Ltd.’s Notes
• Positive Sentiment: Recent quarter showed revenue and EPS roughly in line-to-slightly-better-than expectations and management raised revenue guidance at the low end, supporting the case for durable topline growth driven by platform and subscription momentum. (Company releases and analyst coverage)
• Neutral Sentiment: Several firms reiterated Outperform/Buy ratings (e.g., Citizens JMP, Wedbush, RBC, Rosenblatt) — indicating pockets of institutional confidence even as some analysts trimmed estimates.
• Negative Sentiment: A cluster of analyst downgrades and price-target cuts hit PANW, driving headline selling and raising near-term skepticism about margin recovery amid integration costs. See coverage of the downgrade-driven selloff. Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Stock Price Down 6.8% on Analyst Downgrade
• Negative Sentiment: Susquehanna cut its price target (and multiple banks including Goldman, HSBC, Mizuho, BMO and others issued more pessimistic forecasts or lowered targets), amplifying pressure on the stock’s near-term outlook. Susquehanna Lowers Palo Alto Networks Price Target to $200.00
• Negative Sentiment: HSBC notably cut its target to $114, highlighting the range of analyst views and contributing to sentiment-driven selling. HSBC Adjusts Price Target on Palo Alto Networks to $114
• Negative Sentiment: Unusually large put-option buying and elevated volume/gap-down trading indicate traders are positioned for further near-term weakness; this increases volatility and can exacerbate downward moves until clarity on integration costs and margin recovery arrives.

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.