Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Trading Up 1% – Here’s What Happened

Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) traded up 1% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $344.79 and last traded at $338.49. 4,372,096 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 49% from the average daily volume of 8,512,385 shares. The stock had previously closed at $335.10.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PANW has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday, September 1st. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $410.00 price objective (up from $345.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, September 2nd. Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $375.00 price objective (up from $370.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus set a $415.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 19th. Finally, William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday, June 16th. Thirty-nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $386.32.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 1.0%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.86. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $349.79 and its 200 day moving average price is $259.23. The firm has a market capitalization of $275.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 663.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 9.73 and a beta of 0.91.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, September 1st. The network technology company reported $1.02 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.98 by $0.04. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 8.50% and a net margin of 2.67%.The company had revenue of $3.41 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.35 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.95 earnings per share. Palo Alto Networks’s revenue was up 34.5% compared to the same quarter last year. 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. Sell-side analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.3 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director James J. Goetz sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $279.90, for a total transaction of $5,598,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 20,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,598,000. The trade was a 50.00% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 900 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $373.68, for a total value of $336,312.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 72,484 shares in the company, valued at approximately $27,085,821.12. This trade represents a 1.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 37,703 shares of company stock valued at $10,900,823 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

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

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.