Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Shares Up 4.6% After Analyst Upgrade

Key Points

• Palo Alto Networks shares rose 4.6% after BTIG Research raised its price target from $404 to $425 and maintained a buy rating.
• Analyst sentiment remains favorable, with 38 analysts rating the stock a Buy and 12 assigning a Hold; the consensus rating is “Moderate Buy” with a $390.47 price target.
• The company recently exceeded quarterly expectations, reporting $1.02 in earnings per share and $3.41 billion in revenue, up 34.5% year over year. However, insiders sold roughly $10.3 million of stock over the past three months.

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) shot up 4.6% during mid-day trading on Monday after BTIG Research raised their price target on the stock from $404.00 to $425.00. BTIG Research currently has a buy rating on the stock. Palo Alto Networks traded as high as $394.50 and last traded at $392.09. 5,987,285 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 29% from the average session volume of 8,405,605 shares. The stock had previously closed at $374.74.

A number of other equities analysts have also issued reports on the company. Wedbush began coverage on Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Friday, September 11th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $400.00 target price for the company. Barclays reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $375.00 price objective (up from $370.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Needham & Company LLC restated a "buy" rating and issued a $425.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, September 2nd. Susquehanna lifted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $350.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock a "positive" rating in a report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Finally, William Blair reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Tuesday, June 16th. Thirty-eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $390.47.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, Director James J. Goetz sold 20,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $376.68, for a total value of $7,533,600.00. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Aparna Bawa sold 1,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $373.61, for a total value of $373,610.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 5,437 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,031,317.57. This trade represents a 15.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders have sold 27,690 shares of company stock worth $10,345,010. Insiders own 1.40% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. QRG Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 20.9% during the 2nd quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 103,822 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $35,405,000 after purchasing an additional 17,982 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 4.2% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 36,979,497 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $12,610,748,000 after purchasing an additional 1,493,179 shares during the period. Wellington Altus USA Inc. boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 17.8% during the second quarter. Wellington Altus USA Inc. now owns 993 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $339,000 after buying an additional 150 shares in the last quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 90.1% during the second quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 325 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $111,000 after buying an additional 154 shares during the period. Finally, Reynders McVeigh Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the second quarter valued at $382,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company's stock.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 4.6%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.87. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $356.02 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $277.55. The company has a market cap of $320.73 billion, a PE ratio of 768.82, a PEG ratio of 10.79 and a beta of 0.91.

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 analysts' consensus estimates of $0.98 by $0.04. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 2.67% and a return on equity of 8.50%. The business had revenue of $3.41 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.35 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.95 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 34.5% compared to the same quarter last year. 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, analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.31 earnings per share for the current year.

About Palo Alto Networks

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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