Analysts Set Expectations for PANW FY2025 Earnings

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) – Stock analysts at Cantor Fitzgerald issued their FY2025 earnings per share (EPS) estimates for shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday, January 21st. Cantor Fitzgerald analyst expects that the network technology company will post earnings per share of $1.74 for the year. Cantor Fitzgerald has a “Overweight” rating and a $222.50 price objective on the stock. The consensus estimate for Palo Alto Networks’ current full-year earnings is $1.74 per share.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $2.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.12 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 32.99% and a return on equity of 23.36%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.32 earnings per share.

Several other brokerages have also issued reports on PANW. Bank of America boosted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $208.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $225.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $188.00 to $212.50 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Northland Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating and issued a $185.00 price target (up from $175.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $200.85.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 2.3 %

Shares of Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $187.70 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $123.17 billion, a PE ratio of 48.88, a PEG ratio of 5.25 and a beta of 1.14. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $188.60 and its 200 day simple moving average is $178.87. Palo Alto Networks has a 12 month low of $130.04 and a 12 month high of $207.24.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $179.70, for a total transaction of $21,564,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 365,856 shares in the company, valued at $65,744,323.20. The trade was a 24.70 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 336,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $193.70, for a total transaction of $65,081,520.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 3,643,516 shares in the company, valued at approximately $705,730,831.62. The trade was a 8.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 867,734 shares of company stock worth $161,546,523 in the last quarter. Insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Hantz Financial Services Inc. raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 105.5% during the 4th quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 52,092 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $9,479,000 after acquiring an additional 26,737 shares during the period. Forsta AP Fonden raised its position in Palo Alto Networks by 99.2% during the fourth quarter. Forsta AP Fonden now owns 200,000 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $36,392,000 after purchasing an additional 99,600 shares in the last quarter. BOCHK Asset Management Ltd lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 390.4% during the fourth quarter. BOCHK Asset Management Ltd now owns 51,000 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $9,280,000 after purchasing an additional 40,600 shares during the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 84.3% in the 4th quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 274,576 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $49,962,000 after purchasing an additional 125,569 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Asset Dedication LLC increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 214.2% during the 4th quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 3,067 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $558,000 after purchasing an additional 2,091 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Palo Alto Networks Company Profile

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.