Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Stock Price Up 2.2% – Still a Buy?

Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) shot up 2.2% on Thursday. The stock traded as high as $366.23 and last traded at $354.92. Approximately 7,177,207 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 12% from the average daily volume of 8,132,011 shares. The stock had previously closed at $347.25.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on PANW. Citizens Jmp upped their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $320.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $390.00 price target (up from $371.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Tigress Financial lifted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $245.00 to $430.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Palo Alto Networks from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Thursday, October 8th. Finally, Mizuho set a $415.00 price objective on Palo Alto Networks and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 19th. Thirty-nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $398.55.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $369.41 and its 200-day simple moving average is $307.28. The stock has a market cap of $290.32 billion, a PE ratio of 695.94, a PEG ratio of 9.79 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a quick ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted 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 company had revenue of $3.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.35 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 2.67% and a return on equity of 8.50%. Palo Alto Networks’s revenue for the quarter was up 34.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business 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. On average, research analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $395.70, for a total transaction of $158,280.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 77,987 shares in the company, valued at $30,859,455.90. This represents a 0.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Aparna Bawa sold 250 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $412.28, for a total value of $103,070.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 4,427 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,825,163.56. The trade was a 5.35% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 54,210 shares of company stock worth $20,823,029. Insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter worth about $25,833,462,000. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 4.2% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 36,979,497 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $12,610,748,000 after acquiring an additional 1,493,179 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 0.9% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 22,681,876 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $7,734,973,000 after acquiring an additional 205,123 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 8.7% during the 2nd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 8,778,963 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $2,993,802,000 after acquiring an additional 706,003 shares during the period. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 4.4% in the 1st quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 6,466,118 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,036,648,000 after acquiring an additional 273,103 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.