Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Posts Quarterly Earnings Results, Misses Estimates By $0.34 EPS

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) issued its earnings results on Tuesday. The network technology company reported $0.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.77 by ($0.34), Zacks reports. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 14.64% and a return on equity of 21.93%. Palo Alto Networks updated its FY 2025 guidance to 3.260-3.280 EPS and its Q4 2025 guidance to 0.870-0.890 EPS.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 0.1%

Shares of NASDAQ PANW traded up $0.18 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $194.48. 8,808,644 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,587,954. Palo Alto Networks has a one year low of $142.01 and a one year high of $208.39. The stock has a market cap of $128.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 109.57, a PEG ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.02. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $177.67 and its 200-day moving average price is $185.26.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on PANW. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $225.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Monday, February 10th. JMP Securities boosted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. HSBC upgraded Palo Alto Networks from a “reduce” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $156.00 price objective for the company in a report on Thursday, April 10th. KeyCorp cut their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $240.00 to $205.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res raised Palo Alto Networks from a “moderate sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have given a hold rating, twenty-eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $203.46.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.41, for a total transaction of $16,541,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,543,516 shares in the company, valued at $586,132,981.56. This trade represents a 2.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $151.13, for a total transaction of $18,252,574.62. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 321,774 shares in the company, valued at approximately $48,629,704.62. This represents a 27.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 568,962 shares of company stock worth $96,933,690 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

An institutional investor recently raised its position in Palo Alto Networks stock. Bison Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 169.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 5,212 shares of the network technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,275 shares during the period. Bison Wealth LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $948,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.