Insider Selling: Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Director Sells 290 Shares

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) Director Aparna Bawa sold 290 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $348.74, for a total transaction of $101,134.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 6,437 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,244,839.38. The trade was a 4.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Aparna Bawa also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Monday, June 29th, Aparna Bawa sold 632 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $318.67, for a total transaction of $201,399.44.
• On Monday, June 22nd, Aparna Bawa sold 345 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $290.17, for a total transaction of $100,108.65.
• On Friday, June 12th, Aparna Bawa sold 536 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.00, for a total transaction of $150,080.00.
• On Thursday, June 11th, Aparna Bawa sold 555 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $270.00, for a total transaction of $149,850.00.
• On Wednesday, June 10th, Aparna Bawa sold 377 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $265.00, for a total value of $99,905.00.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 3.2%

NASDAQ PANW traded up $11.02 on Wednesday, hitting $352.04. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 7,228,966 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,383,828. The firm has a market cap of $286.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 288.56, a PEG ratio of 12.33 and a beta of 0.94. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52-week low of $139.57 and a 52-week high of $358.10. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $247.98 and its 200 day simple moving average is $198.12. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, June 2nd. The network technology company reported $0.85 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $3 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.94 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 10.53% and a net margin of 7.95%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 31.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.37 earnings per share. Palo Alto Networks has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.770-3.790 EPS and its Q4 2026 guidance at 0.960-0.980 EPS. Research analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have commented on PANW shares. UBS Group set a $300.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Susquehanna restated a “positive” rating and issued a $350.00 target price (up from $200.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $315.00 price target (up from $220.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $325.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Guggenheim cut shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “neutral” rating to a “reduce” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have issued a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $316.15.

Palo Alto Networks News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: Wells Fargo raised PANW’s price target to $420 and reiterated an overweight rating, signaling more upside potential. Benzinga article
• Positive Sentiment: BNP Paribas Exane lifted its target to $380 and maintained an outperform rating, adding to the bullish analyst momentum. MarketScreener article
• Positive Sentiment: The company’s latest earnings beat expectations, with strong revenue growth and raised guidance, reinforcing confidence in PANW’s growth story. Zacks article
• Neutral Sentiment: Commentary around PANW’s sharp year-to-date gain suggests investors are becoming more cautious about valuation, even as sentiment remains broadly positive. Zacks article

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 15.0% during the first quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 410,401 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $65,796,000 after purchasing an additional 53,485 shares in the last quarter. Aviva PLC increased its position in Palo Alto Networks by 5.4% in the fourth quarter. Aviva PLC now owns 568,804 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $104,774,000 after buying an additional 29,230 shares in the last quarter. Granite Islands Private Wealth LLC raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 43.6% in the first quarter. Granite Islands Private Wealth LLC now owns 15,342 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $2,453,000 after buying an additional 4,659 shares during the period. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 8.8% in the fourth quarter. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp now owns 48,458 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $8,926,000 after buying an additional 3,926 shares during the period. Finally, Oak Thistle LLC purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,554,000. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

About Palo Alto Networks

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.