Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Citizens Jmp Analyst Says

Key Points

• Citizens JMP raised Palo Alto Networks’ price target to $415 from $320 and maintained a “market outperform” rating, implying 9.34% upside. Analysts overall have a “Moderate Buy” consensus with an average target of $337.35.
• Palo Alto Networks reported quarterly EPS of $0.85, beating estimates of $0.79, while revenue reached $3 billion, up 31.1% year over year and above expectations.
• The stock opened at $379.57, near its 12-month high of $387.20, but insiders have sold roughly $27.2 million worth of shares over the past 90 days.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) had its price target increased by research analysts at Citizens Jmp from $320.00 to $415.00 in a report released on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a "market outperform" rating on the network technology company's stock. Citizens Jmp's price objective indicates a potential upside of 9.34% from the stock's current price.

Other equities analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. BNP Paribas Exane increased their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $330.00 to $380.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $220.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Wedbush raised their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $300.00 to $340.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $270.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Finally, Capital One Financial set a $421.00 price objective on Palo Alto Networks and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty have given a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $337.35.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 1.1%

Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $379.57 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $309.35 billion, a PE ratio of 313.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 12.92 and a beta of 0.91. Palo Alto Networks has a 12 month low of $139.57 and a 12 month high of $387.20. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $321.30 and a 200-day simple moving average of $231.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.86.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, June 2nd. The network technology company reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.79 by $0.06. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 10.53% and a net margin of 7.95%.The firm had revenue of $3 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.94 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.37 EPS. The business's revenue was up 31.1% on a year-over-year basis. Palo Alto Networks has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.770-3.790 EPS and its Q4 2026 guidance at 0.960-0.980 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks will post 2.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, Director Helle Thorning-Schmidt sold 700 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $346.85, for a total transaction of $242,795.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 5,898 shares in the company, valued at $2,045,721.30. The trade was a 10.61% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director James J. Goetz sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $279.90, for a total value of $5,598,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 20,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,598,000. This represents a 50.00% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 101,239 shares of company stock worth $27,174,360 in the last 90 days. 1.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Emerald Investment Advisers LLC purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the second quarter worth about $13,208,000. Westpac Banking Corp purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter worth $1,401,000. TRB Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the second quarter worth about $1,106,000. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $27,548,000. Finally, William Blair Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter valued at $38,012,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company's stock.

Palo Alto Networks Company Profile

Palo Alto Networks NASDAQ: PANW is a cybersecurity company founded in 2005 and headquartered in Santa Clara, California. The firm develops a broad suite of security products and services designed to prevent successful cyberattacks and protect enterprise networks, clouds, and endpoints. Built around a platform strategy, its offerings target threat prevention, detection, response and governance across hybrid and multi-cloud environments.

The company's product portfolio includes next‑generation firewalls as a core on‑premises capability, alongside cloud‑delivered security services and software for securing public and private clouds.

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.

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