Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Stock Price Up 3.2% – What’s Next?

Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) were up 3.2% during trading on Tuesday. The company traded as high as $432.33 and last traded at $419.91. Approximately 5,438,058 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 35% from the average daily volume of 8,312,048 shares. The stock had previously closed at $406.76.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on PANW. Truist Financial set a $400.00 price objective on Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Morgan Stanley set a $410.00 price target on Palo Alto Networks and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 21st. Citizens Jmp increased their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $320.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 12th. Robert W. Baird set a $420.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 2nd. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $253.00 to $351.00 in a report on Thursday, September 17th. Thirty-eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $391.32.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 2.2%

The company has a quick ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. The stock has a market capitalization of $324.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 777.42, a PEG ratio of 12.09 and a beta of 0.93. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $367.69 and its 200 day simple moving average is $290.71.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, September 1st. The network technology company reported $1.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.98 by $0.04. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 2.67% and a return on equity of 8.50%. The company had revenue of $3.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.35 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.95 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 34.5% compared to the same quarter last year. 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 anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director James Goetz sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $376.68, for a total transaction of $7,533,600.00. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Aparna Bawa sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $373.61, for a total value of $373,610.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 5,437 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,031,317.57. This represents a 15.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 53,960 shares of company stock worth $20,719,959. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Trilogy Capital Inc. raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 1.8% during the second quarter. Trilogy Capital Inc. now owns 2,127 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $725,000 after buying an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. Wisconsin Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.2% in the second quarter. Wisconsin Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,206 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,093,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the period. Orrstown Financial Services Inc. lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 1.2% during the 2nd quarter. Orrstown Financial Services Inc. now owns 3,197 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,090,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. S.E.E.D. Planning Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 5.1% during the 3rd quarter. S.E.E.D. Planning Group LLC now owns 842 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $334,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Finally, American National Bank & Trust boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 11.2% in the third quarter. American National Bank & Trust now owns 426 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $169,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Company Profile

Palo Alto Networks, Inc is a cybersecurity company that provides solutions designed to help organizations protect networks, endpoints, cloud environments, applications and users from cyber threats. Its offerings include next-generation firewalls, cloud-delivered security services, secure access service edge (SASE) solutions, endpoint protection and security operations tools.

The company also provides platforms and services for cloud security, threat intelligence, incident response, vulnerability management and the automation of security operations.