Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) Receives Consensus Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from Brokerages

Key Points

• Palo Alto Networks has received a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" from 43 research firms, with 30 analysts recommending a buy, 11 holding, and 2 suggesting a sell.
• The stock price target has varied among analysts, with Oppenheimer increasing their target to $245.00, while Jefferies set it at $235.00.
• Palo Alto Networks reported $2.54 billion in revenue for the last quarter, exceeding expectations, along with an earnings per share of $0.95, indicating a 15.8% increase year-over-year.

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) has been given a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" by the forty-three research firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, eleven have assigned a hold recommendation and thirty have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $217.2225.

PANW has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group set a $235.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday, July 29th. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $207.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 19th. BTIG Research upgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, October 13th. JMP Securities restated a "market outperform" rating and set a $212.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday, August 19th. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, October 17th.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $202.16, for a total value of $141,512.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 32,474 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,564,943.84. The trade was a 2.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $204.19, for a total transaction of $1,020,950.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 96,135 shares of the company's stock, valued at $19,629,805.65. This trade represents a 4.94% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 1,315,130 shares of company stock valued at $260,687,367. 2.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Darwin Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 6,400.0% in the second quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 130 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 128 shares during the last quarter. Briaud Financial Planning Inc bought a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Howard Hughes Medical Institute bought a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $29,000. Finally, MTM Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $31,000. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company's stock.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 1.2%

PANW stock opened at $214.40 on Wednesday. Palo Alto Networks has a twelve month low of $144.15 and a twelve month high of $217.94. The company has a market cap of $143.41 billion, a PE ratio of 133.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.04 and a beta of 0.98. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $198.45 and its 200 day simple moving average is $191.16.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Monday, August 18th. The network technology company reported $0.95 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter 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. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.

About Palo Alto Networks

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.