Cantor Fitzgerald Reaffirms Overweight Rating for Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW)

Key Points

• Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed its “overweight” rating on Palo Alto Networks and set a $425 price target, implying 17.37% upside. The stock has a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and an average target of $372.73.
• Palo Alto Networks exceeded quarterly expectations, reporting $1.02 in EPS versus $0.98 expected and $3.41 billion in revenue versus $3.35 billion expected; revenue increased 34.5% year over year.
• Shares opened at $362.09 after a reported 5.2% decline, while insiders have sold 37,735 shares worth approximately $10.8 million over the past 90 days.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "overweight" rating reiterated by investment analysts at Cantor Fitzgerald in a report released on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $425.00 price target on the network technology company's stock. Cantor Fitzgerald's price objective suggests a potential upside of 17.37% from the company's current price.

PANW has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Capital One Financial set a $421.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. TD Cowen lifted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $360.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, August 17th. DA Davidson boosted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $190.00 to $345.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. BMO Capital Markets restated an "outperform" rating and set a $415.00 price objective (up from $335.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Thursday, August 20th. Finally, Tigress Financial lifted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $245.00 to $430.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have given a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $372.73.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 5.2%

Shares of PANW opened at $362.09 on Wednesday. The business's 50 day moving average is $347.96 and its 200 day moving average is $251.94. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. Palo Alto Networks has a 12-month low of $139.57 and a 12-month high of $398.88. The company has a market capitalization of $295.10 billion, a PE ratio of 296.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 12.08 and a beta of 0.91.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last posted 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 10.53% and a net margin of 7.95%.The business had revenue of $3.41 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.35 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.95 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter 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. Research analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks will post 2.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $289.56, for a total transaction 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. The trade was a 3.33% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 900 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $345.00, for a total value of $310,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 79,644 shares in the company, valued at approximately $27,477,180. The trade was a 1.12% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 37,735 shares of company stock valued at $10,814,266. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in PANW. Solstein Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter valued at about $26,000. N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the second quarter worth approximately $27,000. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the second quarter worth approximately $28,000. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC raised its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Finally, EMC Capital Management purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter valued at approximately $34,000. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Palo Alto Networks News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: Quarterly results exceeded expectations. Revenue rose 34.5% year over year to $3.41 billion, ahead of the $3.35 billion consensus estimate, while adjusted earnings of $1.02 per share topped expectations of $0.98 and increased from $0.95 a year earlier. Palo Alto Networks beats quarterly earnings estimates, acquires AI platform Console
• Positive Sentiment: Management issued above-consensus guidance. Fiscal 2027 revenue is projected at $14.1 billion to $14.2 billion, representing approximately 23%–24% growth and exceeding the $13.8 billion analyst estimate. First-quarter revenue guidance of about $3.3 billion also came in above expectations. Palo Alto Projects Double-Digit Growth as AI Drives Cybersecurity Spending
• Positive Sentiment: AI is supporting long-term demand. CEO Nikesh Arora said roughly $1 trillion of aging cybersecurity infrastructure is not ready for AI-driven attacks, potentially extending the company’s growth runway. Palo Alto also acquired Console, an AI-native platform intended to strengthen agentic security workflows. Palo Alto CEO says $1 trillion of cybersecurity infrastructure isn't ready for AI
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst sentiment improved. Scotiabank raised its price target to $430 from $320 and assigned a “sector outperform” rating, implying meaningful upside based on the cited reference price. Scotiabank Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Palo Alto Networks Stock

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.

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