Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Earns Hold Rating from Westpark Capital

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW)‘s stock had its “hold” rating reiterated by research analysts at Westpark Capital in a research report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports.

A number of other research firms also recently issued reports on PANW. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $232.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 12th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 price objective (up from $235.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday, November 11th. DA Davidson raised their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $215.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 17th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, November 17th. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $245.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 17th. Thirty equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $225.09.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of PANW stock opened at $182.90 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $125.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 115.76, a P/E/G ratio of 4.39 and a beta of 0.95. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $208.77 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $197.31. Palo Alto Networks has a one year low of $144.15 and a one year high of $223.61.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 19th. The network technology company reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.89 by $0.04. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 17.05% and a net margin of 11.69%.The firm had revenue of $2.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.46 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.56 earnings per share. Palo Alto Networks’s quarterly revenue was up 15.7% on a year-over-year basis. Palo Alto Networks has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.800-3.900 EPS. Q2 2026 guidance at 0.930-0.950 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks will post 1.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $204.19, for a total transaction of $1,020,950.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 96,135 shares in the company, valued at $19,629,805.65. The trade was a 4.94% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $191.11, for a total transaction of $23,081,119.14. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 177,954 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $34,008,788.94. This trade represents a 40.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 1,215,130 shares of company stock worth $249,031,488 in the last quarter. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Darwin Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the second quarter worth about $25,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 6,400.0% in the 2nd quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 130 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 128 shares in the last quarter. Briaud Financial Planning Inc purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $28,000. Howard Hughes Medical Institute purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $29,000. Finally, Winch Advisory Services LLC increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 96.1% during the 3rd quarter. Winch Advisory Services LLC now owns 149 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 73 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Palo Alto Networks

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.