BTIG Research Boosts Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Price Target to $404.00

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) had its target price upped by equities research analysts at BTIG Research from $380.00 to $404.00 in a report released on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “buy” rating on the network technology company’s stock. BTIG Research’s target price indicates a potential upside of 11.57% from the stock’s current price.

Other equities research analysts have also issued reports about the company. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday, June 16th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $415.00 target price (up from $335.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, August 20th. Wedbush increased their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $300.00 to $340.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. HSBC lifted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $114.00 to $207.00 in a research note on Thursday, June 4th. Finally, Scotiabank lowered shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “sector outperform” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have given a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $372.73.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 5.2%

NASDAQ PANW opened at $362.09 on Wednesday. Palo Alto Networks has a 12 month low of $139.57 and a 12 month high of $398.88. The company has a market capitalization of $295.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 296.80, a PEG ratio of 12.08 and a beta of 0.91. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $347.96 and its 200 day simple moving average is $251.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.86.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, September 1st. The network technology company reported $1.02 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 net margin of 7.95% and a return on equity of 10.53%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 34.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.95 earnings per share. 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. Equities research analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks will post 2.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Palo Alto Networks news, Director Helle Thorning-Schmidt sold 700 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $346.85, for a total transaction of $242,795.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 5,898 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,045,721.30. This trade represents a 10.61% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Aparna Bawa sold 290 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $348.74, for a total transaction of $101,134.60. Following the transaction, the director owned 6,437 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,244,839.38. This represents a 4.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 37,735 shares of company stock valued at $10,814,266 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of PANW. California State Teachers Retirement System lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 35,252.4% during the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 417,760,413 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $142,464,656,000 after buying an additional 416,578,710 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the second quarter valued at approximately $25,833,462,000. Norges Bank bought a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,415,364,000. Legal & General Group Plc acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter valued at approximately $1,968,304,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter valued at approximately $1,569,755,000. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Key Palo Alto Networks News

Here are the key news stories impacting Palo Alto Networks this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Quarterly results exceeded expectations. Revenue rose 34.5% year over year to $3.41 billion, ahead of the $3.35 billion consensus estimate, while adjusted earnings of $1.02 per share topped expectations of $0.98 and increased from $0.95 a year earlier. Palo Alto Networks beats quarterly earnings estimates, acquires AI platform Console
• Positive Sentiment: Management issued above-consensus guidance. Fiscal 2027 revenue is projected at $14.1 billion to $14.2 billion, representing approximately 23%–24% growth and exceeding the $13.8 billion analyst estimate. First-quarter revenue guidance of about $3.3 billion also came in above expectations. Palo Alto Projects Double-Digit Growth as AI Drives Cybersecurity Spending
• Positive Sentiment: AI is supporting long-term demand. CEO Nikesh Arora said roughly $1 trillion of aging cybersecurity infrastructure is not ready for AI-driven attacks, potentially extending the company’s growth runway. Palo Alto also acquired Console, an AI-native platform intended to strengthen agentic security workflows. Palo Alto CEO says $1 trillion of cybersecurity infrastructure isn’t ready for AI
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst sentiment improved. Scotiabank raised its price target to $430 from $320 and assigned a “sector outperform” rating, implying meaningful upside based on the cited reference price. Scotiabank Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Palo Alto Networks 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.