Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) Stock Has Consensus Price Target of $398.55 According to Analysts

Key Points

• Analysts remain bullish on Palo Alto Networks: Fifty firms give the stock a “Moderate Buy” consensus, with 39 buy ratings and an average 12-month price target of $398.55. Several firms recently raised their targets, including Wells Fargo to $525.
• Recent results exceeded expectations: Palo Alto Networks reported quarterly EPS of $1.02 versus a $0.98 consensus estimate and revenue of $3.41 billion, up 34.5% year over year.
• The stock trades at a premium valuation: PANW opened at $365.87, down 3.9%, with a market capitalization of roughly $299.6 billion and a price-to-earnings ratio above 717. Insiders have sold about $20.8 million of shares over the past 90 days, while institutional investors own 79.82% of the stock.

Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) have been given a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" by the fifty research firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and thirty-nine have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $398.55.

A number of research firms have recently commented on PANW. Benchmark raised their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $340.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, August 24th. DA Davidson lifted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $345.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $525.00 target price (up from $475.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Monday, October 12th. Rosenblatt Securities raised their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $355.00 to $415.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 2nd. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada raised their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $434.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, September 2nd.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 3.9%

NASDAQ PANW opened at $365.87 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $299.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 717.41, a PEG ratio of 10.49 and a beta of 0.93. Palo Alto Networks has a one year low of $139.57 and a one year high of $432.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.87. The business's fifty day moving average is $372.15 and its 200-day moving average is $269.89.

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 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.98 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $3.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.35 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 2.67% and a return on equity of 8.50%. Palo Alto Networks's revenue was up 34.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $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. Equities research analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks will post 2.32 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director James J. Goetz sold 20,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $376.68, for a total transaction of $7,533,600.00. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 900 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $373.68, for a total transaction of $336,312.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 72,484 shares in the company, valued at $27,085,821.12. This trade represents a 1.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 54,210 shares of company stock valued at $20,823,029. 1.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of PANW. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $25,833,462,000. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 4.2% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 36,979,497 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $12,610,748,000 after acquiring an additional 1,493,179 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 0.9% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 22,681,876 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $7,734,973,000 after acquiring an additional 205,123 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 8.7% during the 2nd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 8,778,963 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $2,993,802,000 after acquiring an additional 706,003 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 4.4% during the 1st quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 6,466,118 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $1,036,648,000 after acquiring an additional 273,103 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company's stock.

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.

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.