Northland Securities Has Optimistic View of PANW Q1 Earnings

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) – Analysts at Northland Securities lifted their Q1 2027 earnings estimates for Palo Alto Networks in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday, September 2nd. Northland Securities analyst N. Chokshi now expects that the network technology company will earn $0.52 per share for the quarter, up from their previous estimate of $0.45. The consensus estimate for Palo Alto Networks’ current full-year earnings is $2.30 per share. Northland Securities also issued estimates for Palo Alto Networks’ Q2 2027 earnings at $0.61 EPS, Q3 2027 earnings at $0.49 EPS, Q4 2027 earnings at $0.67 EPS, FY2027 earnings at $2.30 EPS and FY2028 earnings at $2.96 EPS.

A number of other research firms have also weighed in on PANW. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday, June 16th. Scotiabank downgraded Palo Alto Networks from a “sector outperform” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $425.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, September 2nd. DA Davidson raised their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $345.00 to $420.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 2nd. Finally, Truist Financial set a $400.00 price objective on Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, September 2nd. Thirty-nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $385.67.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

PANW stock opened at $336.98 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $274.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 660.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 9.62 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 0.87. Palo Alto Networks has a 52-week low of $139.57 and a 52-week high of $398.88. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $350.13 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $257.94.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued 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. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 2.67% and a return on equity of 8.50%. The firm had revenue of $3.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.35 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.95 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 34.5% on a year-over-year basis. 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.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $289.56, for a total value of $1,447,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 145,250 shares in the company, valued at $42,058,590. This represents a 3.33% 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 firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $346.85, for a total value of $242,795.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 5,898 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,045,721.30. This represents a 10.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 38,258 shares of company stock valued at $11,050,673 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in PANW. California State Teachers Retirement System raised its position 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 worth $142,464,656,000 after acquiring an additional 416,578,710 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $25,833,462,000. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,415,364,000. Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,968,304,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,569,755,000. 79.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Palo Alto Networks

Palo Alto Networks, Inc is a cybersecurity company that provides security products and services to businesses, governments and other organizations worldwide. The company helps customers protect networks, cloud environments, endpoints, applications and connected devices from cyber threats.

Its portfolio includes next-generation firewalls and network security technologies, as well as cloud-delivered security solutions such as Prisma Access and Prisma Cloud. Palo Alto Networks also offers Cortex products for endpoint protection, security operations, threat detection and response, and automation.