Mizuho Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Stock

Key Points

• Mizuho has raised its price target for Palo Alto Networks (PANW) from $210 to $220, indicating a potential upside of 6.87% from the current stock price.
• Palo Alto Networks has a current consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" from analysts, with a consensus price target of $216.60 based on 30 Buy ratings, 11 Hold ratings, and 2 Sell ratings.
• The company recently reported earnings of $0.95 per share for the last quarter, surpassing analysts' expectations and showing a revenue increase of 15.8% year over year.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) had its price target upped by investment analysts at Mizuho from $210.00 to $220.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday,MarketScreener reports. The brokerage presently has an "outperform" rating on the network technology company's stock. Mizuho's target price would indicate a potential upside of 6.87% from the stock's current price.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on PANW. Guggenheim lifted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a "sell" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 19th. Rosenblatt Securities cut their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $235.00 to $215.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 14th. Piper Sandler upgraded Palo Alto Networks from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $200.00 to $225.00 in a research report on Tuesday, August 12th. Weiss Ratings reissued a "hold (c+)" rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein set a $207.00 target price on Palo Alto Networks and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 19th. Thirty research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $216.60.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of PANW opened at $205.85 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $195.98 and a two-hundred day moving average of $190.04. The stock has a market cap of $137.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 127.42, a PEG ratio of 4.91 and a beta of 0.98. Palo Alto Networks has a one year low of $144.15 and a one year high of $217.94.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 18th. The network technology company reported $0.95 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 business had revenue of $2.54 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.50 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.75 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 15.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Palo Alto Networks has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.750-3.850 EPS. Q1 2026 guidance at 0.880-0.900 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 100,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.80, for a total transaction of $17,280,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 3,143,516 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $543,199,564.80. The trade was a 3.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $204.19, for a total value of $1,020,950.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 96,135 shares of the company's stock, valued at $19,629,805.65. This represents a 4.94% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 1,315,130 shares of company stock worth $260,687,367. Company insiders own 2.50% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of PANW. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 1st quarter worth $810,047,000. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the second quarter valued at approximately $675,865,000. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $633,068,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 41.9% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 7,235,406 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $1,234,650,000 after purchasing an additional 2,134,735 shares during the period. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 77.1% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 3,879,506 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $662,000,000 after purchasing an additional 1,688,432 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.

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