Palo Alto Networks' (PANW) "Outperform" Rating Reiterated at Wedbush

Key Points

• Wedbush reaffirmed its “outperform” rating on Palo Alto Networks and set a $400 price target, implying 18.17% upside from the prior close.
• Analyst sentiment remains broadly positive: 39 analysts rate the stock a Buy and 11 rate it a Hold, producing a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and average price target of $387.60.
• Palo Alto Networks exceeded quarterly expectations, reporting $1.02 in earnings per share and $3.41 billion in revenue, with revenue up 34.5% year over year.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "outperform" rating reaffirmed by equities research analysts at Wedbush in a report released on Friday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $400.00 target price on the network technology company's stock. Wedbush's price objective points to a potential upside of 18.17% from the stock's previous close.

A number of other analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $390.00 price target (up from $371.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Scotiabank downgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks from a "sector outperform" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus set a $415.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 19th. BMO Capital Markets reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $415.00 price objective (up from $335.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, August 20th. Finally, Capital One Financial boosted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $421.00 to $428.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Thirty-nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $387.60.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 1.0%

Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $338.49 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $275.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 663.72, a P/E/G ratio of 9.76 and a beta of 0.91. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $349.60 and its 200-day simple moving average is $260.57. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. Palo Alto Networks has a 12 month low of $139.57 and a 12 month high of $398.88.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $3.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.35 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.95 earnings per share. Palo Alto Networks's revenue for the quarter 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, sell-side analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks will post 2.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, Director Helle Thorning-Schmidt sold 700 shares of the business'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 transaction, the director owned 5,898 shares in the company, valued at $2,045,721.30. The trade was a 10.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the executive vice president directly owned 145,250 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $42,058,590. This trade represents a 3.33% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders have sold 9,667 shares of company stock valued at $3,058,443. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of PANW. Bouchey Financial Group Ltd. increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 4.1% during the 2nd quarter. Bouchey Financial Group Ltd. now owns 2,664 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $908,000 after purchasing an additional 106 shares in the last quarter. Capstone Financial Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $429,000. Van Hulzen Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 437.9% during the second quarter. Van Hulzen Asset Management LLC now owns 22,856 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $7,794,000 after purchasing an additional 18,607 shares during the period. IPG Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 26.5% in the 2nd quarter. IPG Investment Advisors LLC now owns 25,161 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $8,580,000 after acquiring an additional 5,264 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MCF Advisors LLC raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 14.3% in the 2nd quarter. MCF Advisors LLC now owns 2,148 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $733,000 after acquiring an additional 268 shares during the period. Institutional investors 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.

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