Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Price Target Raised to $425.00

Key Points

• BTIG Research raised Palo Alto Networks’ price target from $404 to $425 and maintained a “buy” rating, implying 13.41% upside from the prior close.
• Analyst sentiment remains positive, with 38 buy ratings and 12 holds; the stock has a “Moderate Buy” consensus rating and an average target price of $390.47.
• Palo Alto Networks exceeded quarterly expectations, reporting $1.02 in EPS versus a $0.98 estimate and $3.41 billion in revenue, up 34.5% year over year.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) had its price objective upped by investment analysts at BTIG Research from $404.00 to $425.00 in a research note issued to investors on Monday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a "buy" rating on the network technology company's stock. BTIG Research's target price would suggest a potential upside of 13.41% from the company's previous close.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. DA Davidson boosted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $345.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Capital One Financial upped their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $421.00 to $428.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $425.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday, September 8th. William Blair reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Tuesday, June 16th. Finally, Argus restated a "buy" rating and issued a $425.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Thursday, September 3rd. Thirty-eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $390.47.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of PANW stock opened at $374.74 on Monday. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $356.02 and its 200 day simple moving average is $277.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.87. Palo Alto Networks has a one year low of $139.57 and a one year high of $398.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $306.54 billion, a PE ratio of 734.80, a PEG ratio of 10.79 and a beta of 0.91.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, September 1st. The network technology company reported $1.02 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.98 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $3.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.35 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 8.50% and a net margin of 2.67%.The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 34.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.95 EPS. 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, research analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks will post 2.31 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Helle Thorning-Schmidt sold 700 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $346.85, for a total transaction of $242,795.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 5,898 shares in the company, valued at $2,045,721.30. This represents a 10.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Josh Paul sold 900 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $373.68, for a total transaction of $336,312.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 72,484 shares in the company, valued at approximately $27,085,821.12. The trade was a 1.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 27,690 shares of company stock valued at $10,345,010. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. QRG Capital Management Inc. grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 20.9% during the 2nd quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 103,822 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $35,405,000 after acquiring an additional 17,982 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 4.2% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 36,979,497 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $12,610,748,000 after purchasing an additional 1,493,179 shares during the period. Wellington Altus USA Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 17.8% in the second quarter. Wellington Altus USA Inc. now owns 993 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $339,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares during the last quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 90.1% in the second quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 325 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $111,000 after buying an additional 154 shares during the period. Finally, Reynders McVeigh Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter worth $382,000. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Palo Alto Networks Company Profile

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.

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