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

Key Points

• Morgan Stanley has raised its target price for Palo Alto Networks from $205.00 to $210.00, indicating a potential upside of 12.39% from the stock's previous close.
• Several other brokerages have offered mixed ratings, with Piper Sandler upgrading its rating to "overweight" while Guggenheim maintained a "sell" rating, underlining varying investor sentiments towards the stock.
• Palo Alto Networks recently reported better-than-expected quarterly earnings, with $0.95 earnings per share, surpassing analyst estimates of $0.89.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) had its target price upped by stock analysts at Morgan Stanley from $205.00 to $210.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an "overweight" rating on the network technology company's stock. Morgan Stanley's target price indicates a potential upside of 12.39% from the stock's previous close.

Several other brokerages also recently commented on PANW. Guggenheim increased their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a "sell" rating in a research report on Tuesday. Piper Sandler raised shares of Palo Alto Networks from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and raised their price target for the company from $200.00 to $225.00 in a research report on Tuesday, August 12th. Truist Financial set a $220.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday. DA Davidson reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $215.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Bank of America upgraded Palo Alto Networks from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $215.00 price target for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Twenty-eight 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, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $211.52.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 2.9%

Shares of NASDAQ PANW traded up $5.2870 on Wednesday, reaching $186.8470. 7,497,304 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,421,885. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $191.31 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $186.32. Palo Alto Networks has a 12 month low of $144.15 and a 12 month high of $210.39. The company has a market cap of $124.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 116.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.33 and a beta of 0.94.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 18th. The network technology company reported $0.95 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $2.54 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.50 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 18.55% and a net margin of 12.30%.The firm's quarterly revenue was up 15.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.75 EPS. 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 forecast that Palo Alto Networks will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 100,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the executive vice president owned 3,143,516 shares in the company, valued at $543,199,564.80. This trade represents a 3.08% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Aparna Bawa sold 526 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.00, for a total value of $99,940.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 8,632 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,640,080. This trade represents a 5.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 669,248 shares of company stock valued at $126,423,337. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Transce3nd LLC purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Darwin Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter worth about $25,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC increased its holdings 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 worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 128 shares during the last quarter. Briaud Financial Planning Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter worth about $28,000. Finally, Capital A Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company's stock.

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.

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