Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Stock Jumps 2% – Here’s Why

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) shares traded up 2% during trading on Wednesday. The stock traded as high as $354.42 and last traded at $347.25. Approximately 5,136,799 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 37% from the average daily volume of 8,128,534 shares. The stock had previously closed at $340.28.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PANW has been the topic of several analyst reports. Northland Securities set a $360.00 target price on Palo Alto Networks and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Roth Capital reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $300.00 target price (up from $210.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Mizuho set a $415.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 19th. TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $440.00 target price (up from $400.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Friday, October 2nd. Finally, Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $375.00 target price (up from $370.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, September 2nd. Thirty-nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $398.55.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $284.05 billion, a PE ratio of 680.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 9.99 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a current ratio of 0.87. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $371.03 and its 200-day simple moving average is $304.63.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, September 1st. The network technology company reported $1.02 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.35 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.95 EPS. The business’s quarterly 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. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.31 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Palo Alto Networks news, Director James Goetz sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $376.68, for a total value of $7,533,600.00. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Aparna Bawa sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $373.61, for a total value of $373,610.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 5,437 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,031,317.57. The trade was a 15.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 54,210 shares of company stock worth $20,823,029 over the last 90 days. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Palo Alto Networks

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PANW. Consilium Wealth Advisory LLC grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. Consilium Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 1,117 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $444,000 after buying an additional 27 shares during the period. Grove Bank & Trust raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 7.0% during the 3rd quarter. Grove Bank & Trust now owns 472 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $188,000 after buying an additional 31 shares during the period. Riversedge Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. Riversedge Advisors LLC now owns 1,285 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $511,000 after buying an additional 31 shares during the period. Tenon Financial LLC lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 5.3% in the third quarter. Tenon Financial LLC now owns 661 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $263,000 after acquiring an additional 33 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Trilogy Capital Inc. lifted 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 during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Palo Alto Networks Company Profile

Palo Alto Networks, Inc (NASDAQ:PANW) is a global cybersecurity company that helps organizations protect networks, cloud environments, endpoints, and digital infrastructure. Its offerings are designed to prevent cyberattacks, identify security risks, monitor activity, and support incident response across enterprise, government, and service-provider environments.

The company’s portfolio includes network security products such as next-generation firewalls and security operations tools; Prisma, its cloud security platform; and Cortex, a suite focused on endpoint protection, threat detection, security analytics, and automated response.