Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Trading Up 4.6% – Time to Buy?

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)’s share price rose 4.6% during trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $347.70 and last traded at $347.13. Approximately 7,111,164 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 21% from the average session volume of 8,971,252 shares. The stock had previously closed at $331.83.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently commented on PANW shares. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $255.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Weiss Ratings cut Palo Alto Networks from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Thursday, June 4th. Guggenheim lowered shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “neutral” rating to a “reduce” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 27th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $340.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Finally, Evercore reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $415.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty have assigned a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $331.48.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 4.6%

The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $308.00 and a 200 day moving average price of $222.47. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The company has a market cap of $282.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 284.53, a PEG ratio of 12.32 and a beta of 0.91.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, June 2nd. The network technology company reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $3 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $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. Equities research analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 1,100 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $285.08, for a total transaction of $313,588.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 81,636 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,272,790.88. This represents a 1.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 62,904 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $258.65, for a total transaction of $16,270,119.60. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 235,983 shares in the company, valued at $61,037,002.95. This trade represents a 21.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 101,239 shares of company stock valued at $27,174,360. Insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in PANW. Darwin Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter valued at about $25,000. Steph & Co. increased its position in Palo Alto Networks by 88.2% in the fourth quarter. Steph & Co. now owns 143 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares during the period. Knuff & Co LLC bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Sittner & Nelson LLC lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 73.8% during the 4th quarter. Sittner & Nelson LLC now owns 146 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares during the period. Finally, Luken Investment Analytics LLC lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 196.2% during the 4th quarter. Luken Investment Analytics LLC now owns 154 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 102 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.