Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Shares Up 2.4% – Here’s Why

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)’s stock price shot up 2.4% during trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $360.49 and last traded at $357.87. Approximately 5,104,143 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 41% from the average session volume of 8,657,283 shares. The stock had previously closed at $349.56.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PANW has been the topic of several research reports. Robert W. Baird set a $320.00 price objective on Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, June 1st. Arete Research boosted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $185.00 to $433.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, June 29th. BNP Paribas Exane upped their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $330.00 to $380.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 1st. Finally, Citizens Jmp upped their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $320.00 to $415.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty have assigned a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $362.67.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 2.4%

The stock has a market cap of $291.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 293.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 12.08 and a beta of 0.91. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $335.81 and its two-hundred day moving average is $240.90. 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 EPS 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 company had revenue of $3 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.94 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.37 earnings per share. Palo Alto Networks’s quarterly revenue was up 31.1% compared to the same quarter last year. 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. Equities analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.02 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Helle Thorning-Schmidt sold 700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $346.85, for a total transaction of $242,795.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 5,898 shares in the company, valued at $2,045,721.30. This represents a 10.61% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $289.56, for a total value of $1,447,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 145,250 shares in the company, valued at $42,058,590. This represents a 3.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 37,935 shares of company stock worth $10,809,461. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Darwin Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter worth about $25,000. Knuff & Co LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Solstein Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the second quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Sittner & Nelson LLC boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 73.8% during the fourth quarter. Sittner & Nelson LLC now owns 146 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 62 shares during the period. Finally, N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC bought a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $27,000. 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.