Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Stock Jumps 7.2% – What’s Next?

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)’s share price rose 7.2% during mid-day trading on Friday. The company traded as high as $381.49 and last traded at $380.55. 6,557,509 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 19% from the average daily volume of 8,119,665 shares. The stock had previously closed at $354.92.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on PANW. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $450.00 price objective (up from $335.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Friday, August 28th. DA Davidson upped their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $345.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Mizuho set a $415.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 19th. TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $440.00 target price (up from $400.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Friday, October 2nd. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane lifted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $380.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Thirty-nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $398.55.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a current ratio of 0.87. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $369.33 and its 200 day moving average price is $307.79. The company has a market cap of $311.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 746.19, a P/E/G ratio of 10.95 and a beta of 0.93.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, September 1st. The network technology company reported $1.02 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $3.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.35 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 8.50% and a net margin of 2.67%. The business’s revenue was up 34.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.95 EPS. Palo Alto Networks has set its FY 2027 guidance at 4.160-4.190 EPS and its Q1 2027 guidance at 0.960-0.980 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO Josh Paul sold 900 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $373.68, for a total value of $336,312.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 72,484 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $27,085,821.12. The trade was a 1.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director John P. Key sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $376.03, for a total transaction of $940,075.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 10,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,760,300. This trade represents a 20.00% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 54,210 shares of company stock valued at $20,823,029 over the last three months. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 15.0% in the first quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 410,401 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $65,796,000 after acquiring an additional 53,485 shares in the last quarter. B&D White Capital Company LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the first quarter worth about $353,000. Bridgewater Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter valued at about $2,159,000. Granite Islands Private Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 43.6% during the 1st quarter. Granite Islands Private Wealth LLC now owns 15,342 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $2,453,000 after purchasing an additional 4,659 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. now owns 240,029 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $95,366,000 after purchasing an additional 3,700 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Palo Alto Networks Company Profile

Palo Alto Networks, Inc (NASDAQ:PANW) is a global cybersecurity company that helps organizations protect networks, cloud environments, endpoints, and digital infrastructure. Its offerings are designed to prevent cyberattacks, identify security risks, monitor activity, and support incident response across enterprise, government, and service-provider environments.

The company’s portfolio includes network security products such as next-generation firewalls and security operations tools; Prisma, its cloud security platform; and Cortex, a suite focused on endpoint protection, threat detection, security analytics, and automated response.