Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Sanford C. Bernstein Analyst Says

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) had its target price increased by analysts at Sanford C. Bernstein from $207.00 to $210.00 in a report issued on Thursday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The firm currently has an “outperform” rating on the network technology company’s stock. Sanford C. Bernstein’s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 5.05% from the stock’s previous close.

PANW has been the subject of several other research reports. Westpark Capital restated a “hold” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday, August 19th. Scotiabank increased their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $228.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 19th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 13th. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Truist Financial set a $220.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 19th. Twenty-nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $224.22.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of PANW opened at $199.90 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $136.73 billion, a PE ratio of 124.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.78 and a beta of 0.95. Palo Alto Networks has a one year low of $144.15 and a one year high of $223.61. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $209.31 and its 200 day moving average price is $197.43.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released 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. The company had revenue of $2.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.46 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 12.30% and a return on equity of 17.66%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 15.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.56 earnings per share. Palo Alto Networks has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.800-3.900 EPS. Q2 2026 guidance at 0.930-0.950 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $217.94, for a total transaction of $26,321,485.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 356,409 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $77,675,777.46. This trade represents a 25.31% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 846,408 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $204.06, for a total transaction of $172,718,016.48. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 275,013 shares in the company, valued at approximately $56,119,152.78. This trade represents a 75.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 1,215,130 shares of company stock worth $249,031,488 over the last three months. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the 1st quarter worth approximately $261,000. Strive Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 16.6% in the first quarter. Strive Asset Management LLC now owns 2,099 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $358,000 after buying an additional 299 shares in the last quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 25.3% in the second quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. now owns 205,053 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $41,957,000 after buying an additional 41,392 shares during the period. Whipplewood Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 6,400.0% during the second quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 130 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 128 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arkadios Wealth Advisors increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 9.2% during the second quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors now owns 39,893 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $8,164,000 after acquiring an additional 3,351 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Company Profile

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.