Research Analysts Issue Forecasts for PANW FY2026 Earnings

Key Points

• DA Davidson has raised its estimate for Palo Alto Networks' FY2026 earnings per share to $2.22, up from a previous estimate of $2.03, maintaining a "Buy" rating and a price target of $215.00.
• Palo Alto Networks reported earnings of $0.95 per share for the recent quarter, exceeding expectations of $0.89, with revenue of $2.54 billion, showing a year-over-year increase of 15.8%.
• According to analysts, Palo Alto Networks is rated as a "Moderate Buy" with 28 analysts recommending Buy, while 11 have issued Hold ratings and 2 rated it as Sell.

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) - Equities research analysts at DA Davidson upped their FY2026 earnings per share (EPS) estimates for shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report released on Tuesday, August 19th. DA Davidson analyst R. Kessinger now expects that the network technology company will post earnings of $2.22 per share for the year, up from their prior forecast of $2.03. DA Davidson currently has a "Buy" rating and a $215.00 target price on the stock. The consensus estimate for Palo Alto Networks' current full-year earnings is $1.76 per share.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 18th. The network technology company reported $0.95 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.06. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 17.66% and a net margin of 12.30%.The firm had revenue of $2.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.50 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.75 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 15.8% on a year-over-year basis. Palo Alto Networks has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.750-3.850 EPS. Q1 2026 guidance at 0.880-0.900 EPS.

Several other research firms have also issued reports on PANW. Truist Financial set a $220.00 price target on Palo Alto Networks and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and set a $232.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday. TD Securities reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $230.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Wedbush reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $225.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Piper Sandler upgraded Palo Alto Networks from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and lifted their price target for the company from $200.00 to $225.00 in a research report on Tuesday, August 12th. Twenty-eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $211.52.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of Palo Alto Networks stock traded up $2.56 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $185.88. 6,857,662 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 14,063,346. The company has a market cap of $123.94 billion, a PE ratio of 115.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.47 and a beta of 0.94. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $190.61 and a 200-day moving average of $186.33. Palo Alto Networks has a 12 month low of $144.15 and a 12 month high of $210.39.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. St. Clair Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. St. Clair Advisors LLC now owns 15,800 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $3,233,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC. boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2.1% during the 2nd quarter. Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC. now owns 2,467 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $496,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Csenge Advisory Group boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2.4% in the first quarter. Csenge Advisory Group now owns 2,271 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $381,000 after buying an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. TFG Advisers LLC raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. TFG Advisers LLC now owns 4,668 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $955,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares during the period. Finally, GSG Advisors LLC raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. GSG Advisors LLC now owns 12,450 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $2,154,000 after acquiring an additional 54 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $201.85, for a total value of $1,009,250.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 101,135 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,414,099.75. The trade was a 4.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.20, for a total value of $128,940.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 37,723 shares in the company, valued at $6,948,576.60. The trade was a 1.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 669,948 shares of company stock worth $126,552,277 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 2.50% of the company's stock.

Palo Alto Networks Company Profile

Palo Alto Networks, Inc provides cybersecurity solutions worldwide. The company offers firewall appliances and software; and Panorama, a security management solution for the global control of network security platform as a virtual or a physical appliance. It also provides subscription services covering the areas of threat prevention, malware and persistent threat, URL filtering, laptop and mobile device protection, DNS security, Internet of Things security, SaaS security API, and SaaS security inline, as well as threat intelligence, and data loss prevention.