Palo Alto Networks' (PANW) "Outperform" Rating Reaffirmed at Wedbush

Key Points

• Palo Alto Networks' stock has been reaffirmed with an "outperform" rating by Wedbush, with a price target of $225.00, indicating a potential upside of 14.63% from its current price.
• Analysts remain optimistic about the company, with twenty-eight giving Buy ratings and an average price target of $211.68.
• In the latest quarterly results, Palo Alto Networks reported a revenue of $2.54 billion and earnings per share of $0.95, exceeding expectations and improving significantly year-over-year.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "outperform" rating restated by investment analysts at Wedbush in a report issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $225.00 price objective on the network technology company's stock. Wedbush's price target would suggest a potential upside of 14.63% from the company's current price.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. DA Davidson reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $215.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Tuesday, August 19th. Bank of America raised shares of Palo Alto Networks from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $215.00 price target for the company in a research report on Tuesday, August 19th. Northland Securities reduced their price target on shares of 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. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $223.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Friday, August 15th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $232.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday, August 19th. Twenty-eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company's 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 Stock Down 1.0%

NASDAQ:PANW opened at $196.29 on Monday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $188.03 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $185.90. The company has a market cap of $131.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 122.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.68 and a beta of 0.98. Palo Alto Networks has a 52 week low of $144.15 and a 52 week high of $210.39.

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 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 net margin of 12.30% and a return on equity of 17.66%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 15.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.75 earnings per share. Palo Alto Networks has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.750-3.850 EPS. Q1 2026 guidance at 0.880-0.900 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.80, for a total value of $17,280,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 3,143,516 shares of the company's stock, valued at $543,199,564.80. This represents a 3.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $191.11, for a total transaction of $23,081,119.14. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 177,954 shares of the company's stock, valued at $34,008,788.94. The trade was a 40.43% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 569,422 shares of company stock worth $106,629,618 over the last three months. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. St. Clair Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. St. Clair Advisors LLC now owns 15,800 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $3,233,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC. grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 2.1% during the 2nd quarter. Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC. now owns 2,467 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $496,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Csenge Advisory Group grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 2.4% during the 1st 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 in the last quarter. TFG Advisers LLC grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 1.1% during the 2nd 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 in the last quarter. Finally, GSG Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 0.4% during the 1st 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 in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.