Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Earns Hold (C+) Rating from Weiss Ratings

Key Points

• Palo Alto Networks' stock has been given a "hold (C+)" rating by Weiss Ratings, while Piper Sandler upgraded their rating to "overweight" and increased the target price from $200 to $225.
• The company reported earnings of $0.95 per share for the last quarter, surpassing estimates and showing a 15.8% year-over-year revenue growth to $2.54 billion.
• Insider trading has seen significant activity, with executives selling over 1.3 million shares for a total value of approximately $260.7 million in the last three months.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "hold (c+)" rating reiterated by research analysts at Weiss Ratings in a report released on Wednesday,Weiss Ratings reports.

Several other analysts also recently weighed in on PANW. Piper Sandler raised shares of Palo Alto Networks from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and lifted their target price for the company from $200.00 to $225.00 in a report on Tuesday, August 12th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $235.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday, July 29th. Rosenblatt Securities lowered their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $235.00 to $215.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 14th. Bank of America raised shares of Palo Alto Networks from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $215.00 target price on the stock in a report on Tuesday, August 19th. Finally, Guggenheim lifted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a "sell" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 19th. Twenty-eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $214.95.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $217.79 on Wednesday. Palo Alto Networks has a 1 year low of $144.15 and a 1 year high of $217.94. The company has a market capitalization of $145.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 135.69, a PEG ratio of 5.02 and a beta of 0.98. The company's fifty day moving average is $191.40 and its two-hundred day moving average is $188.81.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.06. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 12.30% and a return on equity of 17.66%. The company 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 firm posted $0.75 EPS. Palo Alto Networks's revenue for the quarter 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. As a group, equities analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief accounting officer owned 32,474 shares in the company, valued at $6,564,943.84. This trade represents a 2.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $211.92, for a total transaction of $25,594,426.08. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 149,190 shares of the company's stock, valued at $31,616,344.80. This trade represents a 44.74% 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 valued at $260,687,367. 2.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. St. Clair Advisors LLC raised its position in Palo Alto Networks by 0.3% during the second quarter. St. Clair Advisors LLC now owns 15,800 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $3,233,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC. raised its position in Palo Alto Networks by 2.1% during the second quarter. Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC. now owns 2,467 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $496,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Csenge Advisory Group raised its position in Palo Alto Networks by 2.4% during the first quarter. Csenge Advisory Group now owns 2,271 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $381,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. TFG Advisers LLC raised its position in Palo Alto Networks by 1.1% during the second 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 last quarter. Finally, GSG Advisors LLC raised its position in Palo Alto Networks by 0.4% during the first 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 last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% 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.

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