Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Shares Gap Up – Should You Buy?

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) shares gapped up prior to trading on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $339.31, but opened at $358.56. Palo Alto Networks shares last traded at $374.7720, with a volume of 1,120,499 shares changing hands.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on PANW. Wolfe Research reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $320.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Truist Financial set a $435.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 19th. TD Cowen boosted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $360.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 17th. FBN Securities reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, July 1st. Finally, Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $370.00 price objective (up from $315.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty have given a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $365.87.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 10.7%

The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The firm has a market cap of $306.23 billion, a PE ratio of 307.00, a P/E/G ratio of 11.39 and a beta of 0.91. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $341.05 and a 200 day moving average price of $246.01.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, June 2nd. The network technology company reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $3 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.94 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 10.53% and a net margin of 7.95%.The firm’s revenue was up 31.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.37 earnings per share. 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. Analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.02 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $289.56, for a total transaction of $1,447,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 145,250 shares in the company, valued at approximately $42,058,590. The trade was a 3.33% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director James J. Goetz sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $279.90, for a total transaction of $5,598,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 20,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,598,000. The trade was a 50.00% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 37,935 shares of company stock worth $10,809,461. 1.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Trilogy Capital Inc. lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. Trilogy Capital Inc. now owns 2,127 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $725,000 after acquiring an additional 37 shares during the period. Wisconsin Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter. Wisconsin Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,206 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,093,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Orrstown Financial Services Inc. grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter. Orrstown Financial Services Inc. now owns 3,197 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,090,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 125.0% in the second quarter. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 81 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares during the period. Finally, WNY Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2.8% during the second quarter. WNY Asset Management LLC now owns 1,751 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $597,000 after purchasing an additional 47 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Company Profile

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.