Brokerages Set Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) PT at $304.22

Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the forty-eight ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, thirty-seven have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $306.5870.

PANW has been the subject of several recent research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $220.00 to $350.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Wolfe Research reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $320.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Guggenheim downgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “neutral” rating to a “reduce” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 27th. Citigroup restated a “market outperform” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Finally, DA Davidson increased their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $190.00 to $345.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 1.0%

Shares of NASDAQ:PANW opened at $263.22 on Thursday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $211.67 and its 200 day moving average is $187.90. The stock has a market cap of $214.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 215.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 9.67 and a beta of 0.94. Palo Alto Networks has a 52-week low of $139.57 and a 52-week high of $302.95. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, June 2nd. The network technology company reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79 by $0.06. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 10.53% and a net margin of 7.95%.The business had revenue of $3 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.94 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.37 EPS. Palo Alto Networks’s revenue was up 31.1% on a year-over-year basis. Palo Alto Networks has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.770-3.790 EPS and its Q4 2026 guidance at 0.960-0.980 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks will post 2.03 EPS for the current year.

Key Stories Impacting Palo Alto Networks

Here are the key news stories impacting Palo Alto Networks this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and industry commentary highlighted rapid adoption of Prisma AIRS, with customer growth and larger AI security deals suggesting this could become a major new growth engine for Palo Alto Networks. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Recent coverage emphasized Palo Alto Networks’ $10 billion revenue run-rate and strong long-term stock performance, reinforcing the view that the company is still expanding beyond its legacy firewall business. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Scotiabank slightly raised FY2027 EPS estimates and kept a Sector Outperform rating with a $320 price target, which supports the bullish case for the stock.
• Neutral Sentiment: Northland Securities maintained a Market Perform rating and a $302 price target, signaling a mixed but not outright bearish stance.
• Negative Sentiment: Northland and Scotiabank lowered some near-term EPS estimates, which could temper enthusiasm if investors focus more on valuation and short-term margin expectations than on longer-term AI growth.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.42, for a total value of $802,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 150,250 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,103,105. The trade was a 3.22% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director John P. Key sold 1,572 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $173.32, for a total value of $272,459.04. Following the sale, the director owned 20,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,466,400. This trade represents a 7.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 72,076 shares of company stock valued at $17,930,587 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PANW. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,415,364,000. Bank of America Corp DE raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 16.0% during the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 22,476,753 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $3,603,473,000 after acquiring an additional 3,101,267 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 4.1% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 67,929,063 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $12,512,533,000 after acquiring an additional 2,659,100 shares during the last quarter. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 1,665.1% during the first quarter. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. now owns 2,761,909 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $442,788,000 after acquiring an additional 2,605,433 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amundi boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 67.1% in the first quarter. Amundi now owns 6,297,833 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,009,669,000 after acquiring an additional 2,528,299 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

About Palo Alto Networks

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ: PANW) is a cybersecurity company founded in 2005 and headquartered in Santa Clara, California. The firm develops a broad suite of security products and services designed to prevent successful cyberattacks and protect enterprise networks, clouds, and endpoints. Built around a platform strategy, its offerings target threat prevention, detection, response and governance across hybrid and multi-cloud environments.

The company’s product portfolio includes next‑generation firewalls as a core on‑premises capability, alongside cloud‑delivered security services and software for securing public and private clouds.