Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Trading 1.6% Higher - Should You Buy?

Key Points

• Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) shares rose 1.6%, trading at $200.78, despite experiencing a significant drop in trading volume, with only 1.88 million shares exchanged compared to the average of 6.42 million.
• Analysts have mixed opinions on Palo Alto Networks, with 28 "Buy" ratings and some recent downgrades lowering price targets significantly, emphasizing a cautious outlook amidst a "Moderate Buy" average rating.
• The company beat earnings expectations with an EPS of $0.95 for the last quarter, driven by revenue of $2.54 billion, reflecting a year-over-year growth of 15.8%.

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) shares traded up 1.6% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $202.72 and last traded at $200.78. 1,876,574 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 71% from the average session volume of 6,416,120 shares. The stock had previously closed at $197.55.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Northland Securities lowered their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $210.00 to $177.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. KeyCorp lowered Palo Alto Networks from an "overweight" rating to a "sector weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $210.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $221.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, Guggenheim boosted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a "sell" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 19th. Twenty-eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $211.68.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 0.8%

The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $188.19 and a 200-day simple moving average of $185.75. The firm has a market capitalization of $131.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 122.06, a P/E/G ratio of 4.71 and a beta of 0.98.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 18th. The network technology company reported $0.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.89 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $2.54 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.50 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 17.66% and a net margin of 12.30%.The business's quarterly revenue was up 15.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company 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. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 100,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.80, for a total transaction of $17,280,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 3,143,516 shares in the company, valued at approximately $543,199,564.80. The trade was a 3.08% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $201.85, for a total value of $1,009,250.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 101,135 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $20,414,099.75. This trade represents a 4.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 569,422 shares of company stock valued at $106,629,618. Insiders own 2.50% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. St. Clair Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. St. Clair Advisors LLC now owns 15,800 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $3,233,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the period. Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC. boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 2.1% in the 2nd quarter. Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC. now owns 2,467 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $496,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the period. Csenge Advisory Group boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 2.4% in the 1st quarter. Csenge Advisory Group now owns 2,271 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $381,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares during the period. TFG Advisers LLC boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. TFG Advisers LLC now owns 4,668 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $955,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares during the period. Finally, GSG Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. GSG Advisors LLC now owns 12,450 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $2,154,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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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