Palo Alto Networks’ (PANW) Hold (C+) Rating Reiterated at Weiss Ratings

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW)‘s stock had its “hold (c+)” rating reissued by research analysts at Weiss Ratings in a research note issued on Saturday,Weiss Ratings reports.

A number of other analysts have also issued reports on the company. Rosenblatt Securities lowered their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $235.00 to $215.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 14th. Stephens reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and issued a $205.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday, August 19th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $223.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Friday, August 15th. Mizuho lifted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 17th. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 17th. Thirty equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $217.22.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 1.0%

PANW opened at $217.11 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $145.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 135.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.16 and a beta of 0.98. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $200.79 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $192.46. Palo Alto Networks has a 12-month low of $144.15 and a 12-month high of $218.23.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its 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 firm had revenue of $2.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.50 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 17.66% and a net margin of 12.30%.The company’s revenue was up 15.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm 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, analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $211.92, for a total transaction of $25,594,426.08. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 149,190 shares in the company, valued at $31,616,344.80. The trade was a 44.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.16, for a total value of $141,512.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 32,474 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,564,943.84. The trade was a 2.11% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 1,315,130 shares of company stock valued at $260,687,367 over the last quarter. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the first quarter worth $810,047,000. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the second quarter worth $675,865,000. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the second quarter worth $633,068,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 41.9% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 7,235,406 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,234,650,000 after purchasing an additional 2,134,735 shares during the period. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 77.1% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 3,879,506 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $662,000,000 after purchasing an additional 1,688,432 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

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.