Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Stock Price Up 1.9% - Time to Buy?

Key Points

• Palo Alto Networks shares rose 1.9% to $331.83 in midday trading, near the analyst consensus price target of $331.48. Wall Street’s consensus rating is “Moderate Buy,” with 40 analysts rating the stock a Buy.
• The company exceeded quarterly expectations, reporting $0.85 in EPS versus $0.79 expected and $3 billion in revenue, up 31.1% year over year. Management issued fiscal 2026 EPS guidance of $3.77–$3.79.
• Despite strong institutional ownership and business growth, the stock trades at elevated valuations, including a P/E ratio of about 272. Insiders sold roughly $27.2 million worth of shares over the past three months.

Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) rose 1.9% during mid-day trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $333.98 and last traded at $331.83. 5,021,161 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 44% from the average daily volume of 8,976,663 shares. The stock had previously closed at $325.68.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on PANW shares. Piper Sandler reissued an "overweight" rating and set a $345.00 target price (up from $265.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Stephens increased their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $180.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. FBN Securities reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, July 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $220.00 to $350.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Finally, UBS Group set a $300.00 target price on Palo Alto Networks and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty have assigned a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $331.48.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $270.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 271.99, a PEG ratio of 11.66 and a beta of 0.91. The stock's fifty day moving average is $306.57 and its 200-day moving average is $221.46. 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 posted its earnings results on Tuesday, June 2nd. The network technology company reported $0.85 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.06. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 7.95% and a return on equity of 10.53%. The firm had revenue of $3 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.94 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.37 earnings per share. The business's quarterly 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, equities analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director John P. Key sold 7,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $279.24, for a total value of $2,094,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 12,500 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,490,500. The trade was a 37.50% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director James J. Goetz sold 20,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $279.90, for a total value of $5,598,000.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 20,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,598,000. The trade was a 50.00% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 101,239 shares of company stock worth $27,174,360 in the last three months. 1.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Palo Alto Networks

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 4.1% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 67,929,063 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $12,512,533,000 after acquiring an additional 2,659,100 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 30,331,705 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $5,587,100,000 after purchasing an additional 594,789 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 16.0% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 22,476,753 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $3,603,473,000 after purchasing an additional 3,101,267 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,989,257 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $2,934,935,000 after purchasing an additional 540,756 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,415,364,000. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Palo Alto Networks

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.