Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Sets New 52-Week High - Here's What Happened

Key Points

• Palo Alto Networks shares reached a new 52-week high, trading as high as $416.70 and most recently at $422.22, up 5.9%. The company’s market capitalization stood at approximately $352.2 billion.
• Analysts remain broadly positive, with 38 Buy ratings and 12 Hold ratings; the average rating is “Moderate Buy.” Several firms recently raised their price targets, including Jefferies to $450 and TD Cowen to $440.
• The company exceeded quarterly expectations, reporting $1.02 in adjusted EPS versus $0.98 expected and $3.41 billion in revenue versus $3.35 billion expected. Revenue increased 34.5% year over year, although insiders sold nearly $20.7 million of stock during the last quarter.

Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) reached a new 52-week high on Tuesday. The company traded as high as $416.70 and last traded at $422.22, with a volume of 100128 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $406.76.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PANW has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $355.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 2nd. TD Cowen reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $440.00 price objective (up from $400.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Friday. Truist Financial set a $400.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $450.00 price objective (up from $335.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Friday, August 28th. Finally, Piper Sandler reiterated an "overweight" rating and set a $410.00 target price (up from $345.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, September 2nd. Thirty-eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $391.32.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 5.9%

The company has a quick ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $363.84 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $287.28. The company has a market cap of $352.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 845.12, a PEG ratio of 11.61 and a beta of 0.93.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, September 1st. The network technology company reported $1.02 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.98 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $3.41 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.35 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 2.67% and a return on equity of 8.50%. The company's revenue was up 34.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.95 EPS. Palo Alto Networks has set its FY 2027 guidance at 4.160-4.190 EPS and its Q1 2027 guidance at 0.960-0.980 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.31 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, CAO Josh Paul sold 400 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $395.70, for a total value of $158,280.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 77,987 shares in the company, valued at $30,859,455.90. This represents a 0.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director John P. Key sold 2,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $376.03, for a total value of $940,075.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 10,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,760,300. The trade was a 20.00% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 53,960 shares of company stock valued at $20,719,959 over the last quarter. 1.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Neville Rodie & Shaw Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 0.7% in the third quarter. Neville Rodie & Shaw Inc. now owns 16,615 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $6,602,000 after acquiring an additional 110 shares during the period. Heartwood Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.6% during the third quarter. Heartwood Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 6,039 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $2,399,000 after acquiring an additional 95 shares during the last quarter. Silverleafe Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 3rd quarter valued at $572,000. Miller Global Investments LLC increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 406.7% in the 3rd quarter. Miller Global Investments LLC now owns 456 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $181,000 after acquiring an additional 366 shares during the period. Finally, First Citizens Financial Corp raised its position in Palo Alto Networks by 8.7% in the 3rd quarter. First Citizens Financial Corp now owns 688 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $273,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company's stock.

Palo Alto Networks Company Profile

Palo Alto Networks, Inc is a cybersecurity company that provides solutions designed to help organizations protect networks, endpoints, cloud environments, applications and users from cyber threats. Its offerings include next-generation firewalls, cloud-delivered security services, secure access service edge (SASE) solutions, endpoint protection and security operations tools.

The company also provides platforms and services for cloud security, threat intelligence, incident response, vulnerability management and the automation of security operations.

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